Eating Right for our type-- 4 weeks in...

... and I've gotta be honest. I'm abusing the whole "red wine is a benefit" thing. I think I'm on the 'Red Wine Diet' not the 'Eat Right For Your Type Diet'!! I don't think ANY weight loss program works when you consume a bottle of wine at the end of your day!! So I'm embarrassed to admit that my results aren't stellar, which would explain the lack of blogging about it.

I'm enjoying the diet in general, but to be fair, it's not that far off from how Brad and I eat when we're being "healthy" anyways! Lots of lean protein and soy products, lots of fruit, dried fruit and veggies.... and NO sugar. (haha except in wine!) Funny enough, when we first met Brad & I both joked about our ridiculous eating "quirks" that our families make fun of us for.... and this diet has just proven us right!! There are certain things that I noticed YEARS ago that I didn't digest well (peppers, chick peas, most beans, any meat other than chicken or turkey... etc etc) so I stopped eating them. (I haven't had any form of meat other than chicken & turkey & fish since 1999!!) And turns out they're all "avoids" for us anyway!

HOWEVER this whole 'no hot sauce' thing?? Killing us. That and the 'no vinegar thing'. Ever notice that vinegar is in EVERYTHING?!

That being said we are going to modify our diet slightly. Because cutting out hot sauce and vinegar are NOT going to be 2 things that we will do for the rest of our lives (although we WILL be more conscious of them now) we're going to re-introduce hot sauce. And if Brad has his way? BBQ sauce too.

Sooooooo here are my results after 4 weeks. I'm down 6 pounds in total and I'm down 5 inches all over. That includes bust, belly, midline (aka muffin top), hips, butt, thighs, calves, biceps and forearms. I still feel great but have about 7-10 more pounds to go until I feel FABULOUS! 4 weeks to do it!

PS-- this "Red Wine Diet" sounds very exciting! Maybe I will have to have an 8 week Red Wine challenge after this ;p Oh wait... I'm pretty much ON it right now aren't I? Crap.

Eating Right for our type - Week 1 complete!

Well I'm not going to lie... I feel better!

A combo of regular exercise, moderated drinking and healthy eating has made a HUGE difference in the way I feel this week. My numbers aren't as drastically different as I would have hoped, but I'm "down" none the less. So far I'm down a total of 4 lbs and 1 inch... I think that exercise is to blame for the minimal inches because I'm slowly re-building muscle as I lose fat, but hopefully next week's lost inches will be better!

The rest of the week was similar in eating to days 1-3... Lots of smoothies, peanut butter toast, chicken, veggie dogs, salads, quinoa, cous cous, fruit & veggies. The only difference was that I made these awesome kale chips & asparagus fries on Wednesday, and yesterday I ate salmon for lunch... YUM! Oh. And last night we may have indulged in a bit too much red wine ;p

This morning we had feta & veggie omelettes and organic turkey sausages... life is rough! Off to the gym now-- see you next week!

Eat Right for your Type Challenge- Our First Few Days!

Well so far so good!

On Saturday (Day 1) we went shopping and filled our fridge, freezer and cupboards with a couple hundred dollars worth of "A-type" friendly foods. Lots of veggies, fruit, beans, good cheeses, ancient grains... seems like this may not be too tough after all! (And we're certainly not hungry!)

However, the hardest things that are "Avoids" are 2 favorites of ours.... spicy food and sushi. We aren't allowed ANY PEPPERS! Not ground pepper, not jalapeno peppers, no red, green, yellow, orange normal peppers.. and DEFINITELY no Frank's Hot Sauce :( (We aren't allowed anything with vinegar in it so that takes out most condiments, dressings and mustards..) and then even worst, no TUNA! And no crab. So that = no California Rolls or Tuna Sashimi. These are going to be tough ones for us ;p

We are also not allowed any Aspartame (which is fine because it's bad for you anyway) but I do love my Coke Zero... instead I'm using Splenda (because Sucralose, Maltodextrin and Dextrose are "neutrals") and honey to sweeten my beverages :) Luckily Crush Cream Soda and Orange Crush both come made with Sucralose!

MEALS:

Day 1-

Breakfast: Peanut Butter on my favorite Squirrely Bread toast with coffee (almond milk & Splenda)

Lunch: Steamed Chicken on Spinach salad with a side of Ranch dressing (we were out at a restaurant with out-of-town-family and there were no "A type Friendly" dressing options) and a side of steamed veggies, soda/cranberry juice to drink

Snack: Apple

Dinner: Grilled chicken burgers with mozzarella cheese and our new FAVORITE vinegar-free mustard on top, a side of Zuccinni and mozzarella salad, 2 glasses of red wine!

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Day 2-

Breakfast: Smoothie with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, low-fat yogurt, almond milk and flax seeds. Coffee of course (almond Milk & Splenda)
Weekly Sunday Brunch with my family means eating out... so I got 2 poached eggs with Rye Toast. (the Rye had margarine on it which I'm not sure about because I know we're not supposed to do butter... next time I'll get dry toast)

Lunch: 2 Veggie Dogs (bun-less) with mozzarella cheese and our amazing vinegar-free mustard

Snack: 4 dried figs, Diet Crush Cream Soda

Dinner: Father's Day BBQ time!!! So I had 1/2 chicken breast (only 1/2 because we burnt it on the BBQ and it was gross!), around 1/2 cup of BBQ'd Teriyaki Salmon, and a side of quinoa salad. A few glasses of Red Wine to drink of course :)

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Day 3-

Breakfast: Smoothie with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, low-fat yogurt, almond milk and flax seeds. A piece of Squirrely Bread toast with Peanut Butter. Coffee to drink (almond milk & honey this time)

Exercise: Fit-4-Two Stroller Fit class, 1 hour.

Snack 1: 3 dried figs, small handful of unsalted almonds & dried blueberries

Lunch: Quinoa salad with broccoli, carrots, cucumber, onions, lemon, olive oil and garlic. Delicious!! (I added A-friendly curry spices on the leftovers)

Snack 2: 1 dried fig, small handful of unsalted almonds & dried blueberries, Diet Crush Cream Soda

Dinner: Lentil patties are on their way with a side salad...and of course red wine!

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3 days done out of 56! LOL

Eating Right For Your Blood Type - Our 8 week challenge

So the baby is over a year old, the hockey season is FINALLY over, our spring travels full of wine and delicious food have ended... and the bottom line is.... NO MORE EXCUSES! I'm STILL not back to my pre-baby weight and that needs to change.

Wonder why?? Hmmmm... maybe it's the countless bottles of wine I drank paired with pizza? Or the numerous pints of beer that I drank combined with pizza? Or the pizza I ate topped with pizza?? OORRRRR maybe it's the fact that I've been a total SLACKER this month! (OK so it's probably a combo of all of the above!) Regardless. Party's over. It's time to get back to reality. After all, who wants a fitness instructor with a jiggly pizza belly?? LOL

That said, Brad and I have decided to challenge ourselves to something we've always had an interest in, and part-time live by anyway... "Eat Right For Your Blood Type". Dr. Peter J D'Adamo released a book about this in 1996 and it has made him enormously famous. Quoted from his site: He is a "naturopathic physician noted for his popular books on the Blood Type Diet. His series of books suggest that appropriate diet and lifestyle depend in part on an individual's blood type. An acknowledged expert in naturopathic medicine, Dr. D'Adamo's numerous publications and bestselling books have greatly contributed to our understanding of dietary individuality." http://www.dadamo.com/

Luckily we are both A+ blood types, and so is Veronica (obviously), so we only need to make one recipe / meal.

And here we start.

I'm going to blog about this as daily or weekly as my schedule will allow, and update you with recipes and tips that we have loved / hated. I'm ALSO going to take my measurements today (before we cook our first meal after shopping), and weekly will let you know how my progress is going! (I can't promise that I'll get the same commitment from Brad considering he has to work on film sets who won't necessarily cater to his needs-- but we'll see ;p) It will be interesting to see how 'eating for your blood type' combined with a regimented work out schedule will change our overall appearances. It will also be interesting to see the difference between genders!

Saturday, June 18:
Day 1. Grocery Shopping for an "A Blood Type"!

I've downloaded an awesome app on my IPhone that lets us know the foods that are "Benefits, Neutrals and Avoids" for our A blood type. (Conveniently enough, it's called "Eat Right 4 Your Type" and is $3.99) It also offers a hundred delicious sounding recipes! We will shop with those lists and recipes and hopefully come up with something edible!

(Luckily it says that Red Wine is a 'Benefit' for our blood type... ;p In moderation of course!!)

Wish us luck!!

What happens when your MAT LEAVE pay runs out?!?!?!

OH MY FREAKING GOD!!!

Can you believe it? My baby, Veronica is officially ONE YEAR OLD!! That means, that not only have I been a MOM for an entire year...... but that my MATERNITY LEAVE PAY HAS RUN OUT! AAAAKK!!

Sooooo... Where does the time go exactly? 'Cuz I certainly don't feel like I'm good enough at this 'mom thing' yet that a full YEAR should have passed me by!! (Hmm... Maybe I need more practice! ;p)

But I digress. NOW, 52+ weeks after having my baby, I'm $1,600/month poorer than I was last month. I mean, up until the beginning of April, the government paid me a small percentage of my old salary to raise my child... (And on a side note-- how COOL is it that in 2011 they started to pay EI & Mat Leave to Self- Employed people!! Maybe the ONLY good thing I can say about the Harper Gov't-- and I actually have no educated idea if he had anything to do with it.) But alas, my paycheque is done. Kaput. Gone-zo...

And that's ok! I've embraced my new spending budget. I've STOPPED shopping for my baby out of sheer boredom every day. I've STOPPED eating out every single meal of the day at Bo Jangles & the Hurricane Grill. I've stopped going out for coffee & lunch with the other stroller moms & having a house cleaner & sending my dogs to the groomers... BAAHAHAHA ya RIGHT!! NO I haven't!

WHY?? Cuz I'm a committed yuppy downtown mom. Because there are certain things that we have at our fingertips here in Yaletown called-- "EVERYTHING"! And Brad & I have just made the choice to make it work financially.

If any of you have been following my previous blogs then you know that I'm a huge fan of being an 'Urban Mom'. My suburban friends are always trying to convince me that I NEED to move to the North Shore. Because Veronica NEEDS a YARD. And the dogs NEED a YARD. And if we have a second child they NEED more ROOM... but I'm sorry, did you happen to notice that my front yard is the SEAWALL?? And did you realize that I have a small movie theatre, a party room, a gym, a pool, a hot tub and a PLAYGROUND on my 2nd floor?? And did you see the off-leash dog park across the street from my place? In between the 2 outdoor playgrounds that is. (I know, it's super easy to miss ;p). And maybe you saw the daycare center next door to our condo? Or that the Roundhouse Community Center is just around the corner from us (next to the Elementary School of course) with a bazillion kids programs?

You're right. I should totally move out of my neighborhood.

Not to mention that within a block of us, there's a grocery store, liquor store, post office, dry cleaners, pet store, a dozen amazingly affordable & delicious restaurants... and now my most favorite place to shop... Saf & Benjamin's Modern Baby Store?! What more does a mom need?

Ohh excercise. Right. And oh. Maybe a paycheque? ;p Well that's a no-brainer. YES being a new mom makes it difficult to make time for the gym, but my past posts have made no secret that I am a devoted attendee and huge fan of the organization "Fit-4-Two"... SUCH a huge fan in fact, that I've recently decided to get certified to TEACH the mom & baby classes that I religiously attend every week! (This will prove to be especially rewarding considering I didn't know that classes like this existed when I was pregnant -- and as a result I got pretty depressed about being fat and tired during my pregnancy.)

Soo Yup. I've solved my lack of Mat Leave Pay problem.

I'm officially on my way to being one of "those Yaletown moms" that you see leading the other stereotypical Yaletown moms in doing dips & lunges along the seawall. I get to work out & get paid for it & hang out with my baby in my off-time.. and although some of you who are my dearest friends will make fun of me for it... I'm so ridiculously happy that I don't care! I only wish that each and every one of you gets to experience the same feeling of 'success' and 'belonging' that I have found recently (especially since giving birth) and that you embrace the wonderful thing that is to live this beautiful country.

Oh. And money. I wish you lots and lots of money.