week 1: day 2.

Today's Workout:

Zumba (1 hour)

Working out is always more fun with friends :).

My mom went too...she's my most faithful workout buddy!

Today's Meals:

BREAKFAST:

-Chocolate Raspberry LUNA bar (170 cal.)

SNACK:

-12 oz. iced mocha w/ whole milk (165 cal.)

(*this isn't my drink...I forgot to take a photo

so I took one of Ashley's hot mocha)

-1/2 of a Noah's Spinach Swiss Bagel (205 cal.)

-1 Tbsp. Sun-dried Tomato Basil Schmear (30 cal.)

LUNCH:

Panera for lunch w/ my mom & aunt:

-Tomato, Mozerella & Basil half salad (210 cal.)

(*I didn't eat the croutons and 

saved over 100 calories!!!)

-Garden Vegetable soup (110 cal.)

-Side wheat baguette (180 cal.)

SNACK:

-Lite String Cheese (60 cal.)

DINNER:

"Taco Salad"

-Salad, tomato, onion, cilantro (not counting these!)

-Peach Salsa (30 cal.)

-1 Tbsp. fat-free sour cream (10 cal.)

-1/4 c. Black Beans (70 cal.)

-Chicken (160 cal.)

My favorite wine....

-Willamette Valley Vineyards Riesling(~120 cal.)

*This wasn't part of my plan for eating today

but Craig surprised me with a bottle :).

DAY'S TOTAL:

1520 calories

I went over my 1200 calorie goal, but 1520 is still nothing to sneeze at and definitely still low enough to lose weight.  

Oh...and while I'm mentioning it, I just wanted to say that I received an e-mail from a concerned reader about the number of calories that I am consuming - she felt that 1200 calories was not enough and suggested that it might not be a great example to send to my readers.  I appreciate this concern and wanted to address it.

I've dieted off and on throughout the years and I know my body and what works for myself.  I have a pretty slow metabolism - I can honestly look at food and gain weight.  I've played around with my calorie intake and 1200 calories is the optimal weight loss area for me.  If I up my intake to 1400 I pretty much just maintain my weight.  I've done Weight Watchers before and my daily allotment of "points" was 20 which is approximately equal to 1,000 calories.  I think that is a little low, but if Weight Watchers is recommending it, then it's probably a fairly healthy amount.  I also poked around on the internet and found multiple websites that stated that 1200 calories is a healthy amount for weight loss.  Here's one quote:

"A diet based on 1200 calories daily is the recommended minimum for safe and healthy weight loss. This is because 1200 calories will generally provide an adequate nutritional intake for most individuals, yet still allows the reduction of calories to the level that most dieters require in order to lose weight.  

Many diet plans for weight loss that are developed by nutritionists and health professionals are based on 1200 calories daily."

Also...most days I will probably eat more than 1200 calories - this is just a goal.  Because I am doing a lot of "ball parking" when estimating calories, many times the things I eat will be more calories than I think.  Additionally I will always eat when I am genuinely hungry.  If I have already eaten my "quota" for the day, but I'm still hungry then that means my body needs something and I want to be sensitive to that.

I just wanted to say that I hope that this blog is a motivation to others who are working toward their fitness goals as well, but I am in no way endorsing that you do the exact same thing that I do.  Your body is your own and your caloric needs may be different than mine.

Whew!  That was a lot of wordiness, but I just wanted to clear that up.

Hope you all had a healthy day!

xo

{Lauren}