March 2016 – Page 4 – Fat Girls Fitness

Did I Just Feel Warmth?

I must be mistaken. Did I just feel the Sun through the window?

According to the actual internet, here is the 10 day forecast for the NYC area:

You probably have some questions:

Yes, this is an actual screenshot.
No, I’m not making this 10 day forecast up for attention. Not after last time…

Attention ladies! This means:

Unless you’re a feminist, it’s time to shave your January coat. If you have a January coat, then you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then god bless your hairless soul.
…Don’t forget your armpits

Ladies and Gentlemen of NYC Public Transportation:

deodorant, while not required, will be greatly appreciated beginning this week

Fat People (myself included):

The Sun has entered our fat miserable lives, and being cold and miserable is no longer a valid excuse to not exercise
A gym membership is not necessary in this weather, so your wretched state poverty is also no excuse. Less money = less food.

Now is the Perfect Time to Get into Shape!

Forget January. Now is the BEST time to get into shape.

Why:

You don’t feel cold and miserable, and can thus bear torturing yourself with diet and exercise;
Longer sunlight hours means more time for working out and more energy;
AND YET! The party season is not here yet. So you can cut out booze & snacks for a little while without undue hardship.
Eating salads is somehow much easier in warm weather;
The prospect of looking good and being less sweaty this Summer is so close you can taste it!

WALKS WALKS WALKS

I’ve lost so much of my weight just by walking. And this is perfect walking weather. It’s also perfect hiking weather 😀 😀 😀

Yesterday roomie and I went for a nice evening walk along the Hudson. So what if the walk was to PF Changs and back? Fit Girls need lo mein too.

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Coconut Fried Bananas

You want fried dessert, but you don’t want to hate yourself. This takes 4.5 seconds to make, and requires two ingredients.

All you need is:

Two bananas
2 tbsp of coconut oil

About the bananas:

Pick bananas that are not too ripe. No matter what you do, the bananas will stick to the pan a little bit. The less ripe, the less they’ll stick. Frying them in oil will bring out the natural sweetness in any event.
I get my bananas from 7/11, because I’m a scumbag. Don’t be like me. Use better bananas.

sad banana.png — this is what a sad 7/11 banana looks like

About the oil:

I keep my coconut oil in the fridge, which means it’s hard. I let it sit out for a few minutes prior to using.
I use Carrington Farm’s 100% organic coconut oil, because that’s what I have. Ideally I would use Trader Joe’s everything. But this works fine.
Use plenty of oil. These bananas will stick.

coconut oil.jpg — my 2nd favorite coconut oil

What to do:

Slice bananas
Get pan a bit hot, then add 2 tablespoons coconut oil.
When oil is beginning to get hot, add sliced bananas
Cook as needed. 30 seconds – 1 min per side seems to work for me.
Brag to your roommate about what happened to all of the bananas

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I Don’t Want to Lose You

When it’s Grub Hub time, I don’t peruse. I stay in focus, eyes on the prize. Usually, it’s mediterranean food that I truly desire.

I have a favorite. Garbanzo Grill is the name, and yummy comestibles is the game. Their food = delicious, healthy, and filling. Their delivery person = less creepy than most.

Yay!

My roommate & fellow contributor Valerie normally partakes in the feast. But yesterday, Valerie wasn’t here. And just when I needed her most 😥

Because my treasured jewel was gone. Where the F was my favorite salad? The one I look forward to. The one I overpay for. The one I could NEVER live without..

To add to my horror – I cannot remember the ingredients. Panic sets in: “Goddamit, Dorit. Get it together. It MUST be somewhere on this menu.”

I text Valerie “OMFG WHERE IS MY SALAD.”

She seems confused. I don’t have time for explanations.

In an cruel twist, I suddenly can’t recall the salad’s name. But in this troubled time, adrenaline kicks in. A flash of genius!: “Look to your past orders, Dorit. It’s going to be OK.”

I tear apart the archives. Sure enough, my beauty has a name: “Shepard’s Salad” Thank God. Let me Control + F that.

Praised be the name of God! It’s still here. And still 4 dollars for a serving the size of a small grape. The psychopaths had inexplicably removed it from the “salads” section to the “appetizers.” WHY YOU BUFFOONS WHY?

A proper scare. But nothing is lost. In fact, something is gained.

I will never take my favorite salad for granted again. I will learn about you, and I will give you all of the respect. I will learn to make you from scratch, my friend, and I will share you on the internet for all to enjoy.

Here are the ingredients: Cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, red onions, olive oil and fresh lemon juice.

Simple yet elegant

I love you my salad. I’m so sorry I forgot your name. And I’m sorry that I forgot all of your ingredients.

But I’m different now; I’m a better man.

AND I will NEVER be without you again.

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It’s OK to be the Scumbag Friend

I am not much of a morning person. The way Garfield feels about Mondays is how I feel about every. single. morning.

Tragically, the hatred of the beauty of an early dewy morn means that people view you as a worthless, lazy piece of crap. In the eyes of most, I’m not much unlike the good-for-nothing teenage boy who leaves single, random used socks around the house and sleeps till noon. I would like to argue this point, however, because I do happen to hold down a stable job, I work real hard, I work out several times a week, I have an active social life and I, as far as I can tell, have (almost all of) my shit together.

When I do work out, it is always after work. Despite many pleas from my colleagues who far more enjoy the grating sound of an alarm impeding upon their wonderful dream-sesh while they lay around with no pants on in their comfortable-ass bed on a daily basis, I cannot concede to their demands to get up, go to the gym, work out, shower and THEN start my work day. Does it make you feel awesome all day to work out first thing in the morning? Sure. But sleep also makes me feel awesome.

Does this make you happier than back sweat in the morning?

If you are like me, let the haters hate cause working out post-work has it’s benefits:

You are much more likely to be able to use your own shower after you work out
If you forgot your deodorant pre-work-workout, your associates may #neverforget that you’re the stinky one
Going after work means you are less likely to just go home to sit on your ass, drink wine and watch nature documentaries on Netflix (who does that though?)
On that note, it removes idle time from your evening which is primetime for needless snacking
The likelihood of taking co-workers up on happy hour is lessened (provided you have awesome self-restraint like me)
Your muscles warm up as the day goes on, so you are actually much more flexible and less likely to hurt yourself
It’s a much more effective way to release the rage collected throughout your terribly stressful workday than committing heinous crimes such as property damage, libel or identity theft

I read something about accountability being more of a thing if you work out in the evening, as your friends are more likely to join you, pinning you down to the commitment. This is not true in my case, as I am the only scumbag of the people I know that is unwilling to accumulate sweat between my ass cheeks before I even have my morning coffee.

The sleep argument: Some say you are more likely to be something like an actual responsible adult and go to bed earlier if you know you have your work out at the (sweaty) ass-crack of dawn, however, after I work out, I am beat and just want to go home, shower and go to beddy-poo. So, I dunno about that one….

Some also argue that morning people are more consistent, but I have to disagree: when I am tired in the morning (which is usually), I am MUCH more likely to bail on a workout than I would after work when I’m already up, out and living my life.

Basically, as long as you stay committed to working out, whether you are a psycho who likes going in the morning or a normal, grounded person who likes going in the evening, you are doing awesome things!

You do you,

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Your Food Can Talk

Vegetables and fruits background. — “Listen up, human. We’re trying to tell you something.”

Your Produce is Alive!!!

It lives. It breathes. When you close the refrigerator door, the citizens of your fridge even communicate amongst one another through chemical signals.

So how you store and prepare your veggies affects them. And who you store them with affects them as well.

Examples

1. Ripen your avocado. Want to ripen your avocado faster? Store it in a brown paper bag with a couple of bananas. The bananas emit ethylene gas, which speeds the ripening process.

2. Save your avocado with onion. Chop up some onion. Place it in an airtight container with your avocado or guac. If possible, keep the pit. The gasses from the onion will slow browning.

3. Torture your lettuce. This is kind of disturbing. Your lettuce is still living. If you tear it up, it begins to produce higher amounts of anti-oxidants to protect itself from the horrors of your inhumanity.

On the downside, the torture makes it respire faster. I mean – wouldn’t you respire faster if someone was tearing you apart? So once torn, it won’t last as long. (Neither would you!). But if you plan to eat it in the next day or so, tear that ish up and watch the anti-oxidant levels rise.

Preparing Your Veggies

How you prepare your veggies has an enormous impact on their nutritional value. Some nutrients are destroyed by heat. Some are enhanced by it.

Some fruits and veggies are made less nutritious through the process of freezing/thawing. Others (quick respirators) lose nutritional value so quickly that you are better off freezing them than not!

There is no universal best way to prepare your fruits and veggies. It all depends on the item in question, and perhaps on what your goals are.

BUT there is a nearly universal bad way to do it: Boiling!

Forget about the problem of heat. For most plants, boiling will leach water soluble nutrients into the boiling water. Unless you’re using that water in a soup, stew or broth, you’re basically losing those vitamins.

All of these tips come from one of my favorite books, Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson. You should check it out. It’s a wonderful read.

For tips on carrots, see my post on How to Get 8X More Nutrition from Your Carrots
For tips on garlic, see my post Garlic, You’re Doing it Wrong.

If you have any tips like this, I’d love to hear them and share them 🙂

Happy Vegging!

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Firecracker Salmon

I didn’t have much time to prep food for the week because we came home super late on Sunday from our weekend getaway. We are meeting with our trainer tomorrow night and after a training sesh, we are both exhausted and HUNGRY and need food right away!

The food God’s have graced me with their presence and have provided me with all ingredients to make the perfect Firecracker Salmon.

This is good for 2 Salmon Filet:

2 Salmon filet- fresh or frozen (I have frozen. I will defrost and marinade them)
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tbls brown sugar
I don’t even have a measurement of scallions for you. We love scallions so we chop a crazy amount into our dishes. So the amount of scallions are up to you!
4 tbls Soy Sauce we use the lower sodium kind
1 tbls red pepper flakes (less if you aren’t into too much heat)
1/2 cup evoo
4 tbls balsamic vinegar
1-2 teaspoons of ground/minced ginger… My husband likes the ginger slices they give with the sushi so we always have that on hand. I just drop slices of that into the dish
Fresh ground pepper and a pinch of salt (seriously, just a pinch… you’re getting enough salt from the soy sauce)

There is enough of this marinade to throw in veggies too… Like, mushrooms, broccoli, peppers, onions.. mm mm mm!!!

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and let fish marinade for min 2hr-24hrs (longer the better)
Oil the griddle pan. Place on high heat.
When the pan is hot enough, turn the heat down to medium-high and place filet on the griddle.
We cooked the filet about 5-6 min each side.

**We used a griddle pan for this. I am sure you can bake it or pan fry it but I have not tried it like that yet.**

Disclaimer:

This recipe is approved by my Husband. I have yet to join the fish lovers world.

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Froyo For Your Super Tuesday Hangover

It’s primary season here in the USA. And apparently, every last one of us has lost our goddam minds.

But that’s OK, America! There are still three things we can ALL agree on:

Jeb Bush is irrelevant
Ice cream is amazing
Froyo will never be ice cream

I feel legitimately sorry for Jeb Bush. But since we’ve rendered him irrelevant together as one People, let’s move on to Indisputable Facts numbers 2 and 3.

Ice Cream is Amazing

America knows this: ice cream is really very good. As a child, you love ice cream. As an adult, your love only grows.

Even though ice cream gives you diarrhea, you’ll never stop eating it. It tastes too much like actual victory. A taste Jeb Bush will never understand.

Blueberry ice cream — adding berries to ice cream removes the calories

Froyo Will Never Be Ice Cream

Just as Jeb Bush will never be president, frozen yogurt will never be ice cream. But unlike the 43rd governor of Florida, our tasty underdog has a hidden versatility we should not hastily ignore.

Unlike ice cream, Froyo can be a decent breakfast choice. In support of this notion, I will now present a series of exhibits.

The People’s Case

Ladies and gentleman of the internet jury, let’s begin with Exhibit A. Here we have a true and accurate photo of the author eating frozen yogurt just hours ago.

Photo on 3-2-16 at 11.28 AM.jpg — Exhibit A. I personally ate frozen yogurt for breakfast this morning

I know what you’re thinking: “Wow! This girl is amazing.”

But even so, you’re a feisty jury. I’ll need more than an amazing photo of a beautiful human eating dessert to satisfy your impossible standards.

Which is why I now submit Exhibit B, a true and accurate photo of the nutrition label pertaining to the yogurt in question.

Look with your eyes please, upon the above Exhibit B. Even a most cursory glance will reveal that this particular treat contains:

only 80 calories;
a perfect amount of carbohydrates; and
an impressive amount of protein! 6 (SIX) grams

I know what you’re thinking now.

“How? What? Why?”

Contain yourselves, ladies and gentleman! Just try to relax.

All will be revealed by way of Exhibit C, “The Great Reveal.”

In Sum

tastes decent & is decent for you
low calories, high satiety factor.
live cultures, which I suppose is better than dead cultures or no cultures at all
not insanely processed
ATTN: Gluten Hawks – it’s gluten free.

I’ve tried other brands of Greek Frozen Yogurt, but they taste a bit off. Yasso Chocolate Fudge is the brand and flavor I like most.

That said, this is neither Ben nor Jerry. So don’t expect miracles here. The consistency is um… different. I still like it for breakfast 🙂

I rest my case.

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Hump Day Playlist

Some sexy music to get you in the mood…..

TO WORK OUT. Where did you think this was going? You guys are sick!

Selena Gomez- Can’t Keep My Hands to Myself
Ginuwine- Pony
Afrojack-Hey
Nick Jonas-Jealous
David Guetta (feat. Nicki Minaj)- Turn Me On
50 Cent (feat Justin Timberlake)- Ayo Technology
Beyonce- Run The World
Swedish House Mafia- Greyhound
Major Lazer- Watch Out For This
Rihanna (feat. David Guetta) – Right Now
Ciara-Like a Boy
Nicole Scherzinger (feat. 50 Cent)- Right There
Pitbull/T Pain/Sean Paul- Shake Senora
Grace Valerie- When the Lights Go Down
50 Cent/Ne-Yo – Baby By Me
Keri Hilson- Knock You Down
Rihanna- Birthday Cake
Beyonce- XO

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Vacations and food

I will start by saying this- I love food but I am scared of it. My whole life food fed me emotionally rather than my body needing it to stay alive. But with making the lifestyle change that I did, I had to learn to eat food because I need it and not because I want it.

One of my biggest reasons for success is my food journal. It is my everything. While some people feel lost without their phones, I feel lost without my food journal. I feel more in control because of it. I guess it is my security blanket. It keeps me in check and holds me accountable for my actions. When people ask me for recommendations on weight loss and how I was able to lose 100 + pounds and keep it off, my first response: food journal.

I haven’t been on vacation since I’ve been on this journey until this past weekend. My husband took me on a mini-getaway to the Poconos. While I was super excited for some relaxation, hiking, gambling, and a massage, I also feared the food situation. I have a weekly routine with food. All my food for breakfast and lunch is packed for work in advance and we have a set menu for our weeknight dinners. What was I going to do being away?! I kid you not, I began to panic. I started having irrational fears that everything I worked for all this time will go down the tubes and I will become the old me.

It took me a few moments but I gathered my thoughts. First thing I did was write a list of things we need. I like lists. I like being organized. I felt a bit calmer after that and that’s when I told myself to pack non perishable foods and I made a mental list of what I can eat when we eat out.

Foods I packed:

Protein bars… you all know I am always obsessing over different bars. My newest obsession is Oatmega

Here I am doing a free Oatmega advertisement. The company didn’t ask me to do this. I just love this bar so much, I had to take this picture.

Nuts
Bananas and apples
Jerky

Tips for better eating while on vacation:

Make a mental list of what you’re going to eat while you are away. Doing this you psych yourself out and know what to look forward to.
- Breakfast: Eggs and Fruit
- Snack: Something that I packed
- Lunch: Lots of greens and protein
- Dinner: Same as lunch
  - Research restaurants and local food joints. I did research before we left. I looked at the menus and knew what I was going to eat even before we got there.
Exercise/stay active. I get it, you’re on vacation and you want to relax. Personally, I find exercise to be relaxing. I also feel better about myself, Like I’ve done a good thing for myself for the day.
Portion control. I’m sorry, call it tough love but you don’t need to pig out while you are away. Pigging out because “you are on vacation” is stupid and you’ll regret it when you get home.
- I know I’ve said this before…but can the restaurants PLEASE stop serving bread? WHY oh WHY must you do this to me? Next time I am going to “accidentally” hit it off the table.
Drink water to fill up. No juice… Juice = empty calories. I know you all know that alcohol is also empty calories. I’d strongly advise you to watch yourself. I don’t drink at all so it’s not a problem for me but I know people love to drink, especially on vacation.

The weather was too nice to spend time indoors so we visited The Seven Tubs Natural Area and did a good 4 mile walk.

Moments after this picture was taken, I was crawling back up the hill, looking down and almost fell into the water. Thankfully my Husband was watching out for me and told me to stop crawling to my death.

We slept in a bit. Don’t judge me! I wake up the same time every day even if it isn’t a work day.

We had an AMAZING dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Gambled and lost but we played craps for the first time ever!

What do you guys do when you go on vacation? Do you say, “ah, what the hell, I am going to do whatever I want?” Do you pack snacks? Plan in advance? Exercise? Have you gained weight while away? Have you lost weight while being away?

Our next trip is to Japan. This should be interesting…. *If you’ve been to Japan, give me some food advise! I don’t like fish or pork!

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How to Eat Half a Bagel

This morning I walked into the office only to be confronted with my greatest nightmare:

Complimentary. Bagels.

At first I stepped around the bagels, cautiously avoiding eye contact with those crusty devils. Fortunately for me, my desk is a long windy path from the kitchen. Unfortunately for me, I had already noticed the generous assortment of shmear.

I needed a small excuse to investigate further. And a small excuse I found.

Despite working a comfortable distance from the bagels, some nameless monster had placed the platter PRECISELY where our horrendous office coffee resides. This coffee is worse than foul; it’s burnt to a crisp. So I knew I was headed into dangerous territory when I found myself suddenly yearning for an innocent cup of absolute sewage.

I approach the kitchen in much the same way a cleaner fish approaches a shark’s mouth. Even before I can see the objects of my desire, that eu de carbohydrate envelopes me. I immediately hulk out. That sweet perfume is my siren’s call, and some knucklehead forgot to tie me to the ship.

A heavenly hint becomes an olfactory assault. I should mention I work in downtown NY. The bagels here are no joke.

I should have delayed my coffee. I should have held my breath. Maybe I should have skipped work today.

But I had to have one. Or maybe…half!

The great thing about bagels is this: when it comes to having half a bagel, you have two options.

Cut along the bagel’s horizontal axis, like so:

conveniently, many free bagels are pre-cut

2. Cut vertically, as follows:

an alternative option to fit your alternative lifestyle

Half a bagel = half the shmear.
…Or double the shmear, since you’re saving all of those calories.

And in case you’re wondering, the answer is yes. I DID forget all about the coffee.

Whoops! ..Guess I’ll just have to make another run 😉

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