D'oh!

Some days I can be such a complete dumb ass. I told you yesterday how I didn't eat very well and paid for it. I felt like crap all day and by the time I got done with the dishes, I was tired and in bed by 9 p.m. I am proud to say though that even though I stumbled yesterday, I didn't let it derail my day and had a really great dinner.

Mexican marinated flank steak with a shrimp and avacado salad in a piece of butter lettuce instead of a tortilla. Can you say yum? I will post the pictures tomorrow for your to try this weekend!

But back to me being stupid. I was talking to PA yesterday about how good I had been feeling this week and how that all went away yesterday when I had an epiphany (stay with me here, I know you've heard that before, but trust me, its worth it). After 30+ years of battling the fat, I finally came to a starteling realization -

Eat bad, feel bad. Eat good, feel good.

When I told PA this she started laughing and said she was glad I finally figured it out. What the hell, right? Its such a simple concept - eating good food gives you good, sustained energy and helps you do what you need to do. Fill your day with sugar, fat, processed foods, and anything else bad for you, you don't have the energy to sustain a healthy lifestyle. O.M.G., its been right there this whole time.

So for you my friends, I am sharing my epiphany and maybe it will help you to come to your own conclusions and stick with battling the fat. Deciding to live a healthier lifestyle is a very personal decision and no one can make it for you. I'm a prime example of that. But now that I've started down that path, I'll never go back to eating the way I used to.

Tonya will be heading home from Michigan tomorrow after her lovely collaboration project with some wedding vendors back there. I've seen a few of the pictures and I am dying they are so great! I know she can't wait to share them and I can't wait for her to get home so she can start pulling her weight around here (there's a lot of weight to be pulling, he he he.)

Our new website will be up and running next week and we're both so darn excited about that! I will have more info next week, so stick around. Also, I have a big, huge, jumbo sized announcement to make that gives me pee shivers every time I think about it - TONYA IS MOVING BACK TO SALT LAKE!!!!

I'm so happy right now, seriously. She'll be here at the end of the month and the whole family is super excited!

I want to throw a special shout out to our good friend Karen Byrne and thank her for her kind comments on Facebook about my fail yesterday. Here's what she said:

You have to have fail days occasionally in order to appreciate how you feel on the wagon. Give yourself a 20% margin of error. That way you can establish a forgiveness system and you are less likely to fail. And actually forgive yourself or... you will start the hate cycle all over again/ I failed at breakfast whats the point of trying for lunch nonsense that really gets you into trouble. You can do it. you are amazing. DO not give up!

Thanks for the comments cute lady, you are very appreciated! This is good to remember, especially on those days when you can convince yourself that Ben and Jerry's ice cream covers all the required food groups.

Keep kicking fat's ass people! Kisses!

Chairman of the bored

I have a butt load of work to do. For some reason, instead of working, not only am I surfing the internet needlessly, but I'm also eating badly! Ugh! I've been on my program for three days now and I love it. Today I felt my first taste of failure with it. Not because the program doesn't work, but because of boredom, or as I like to call it, the Diet Slayer.

Do you eat when you get bored? I find myself doing it. The last two days I have felt fabulous, had good sustained energy and no swelling in my feet. Now, after eating very bad for you granola with milk and cream, I feel like shit. My tummy hurts, I'm feeling tired and mostly my ass hurts from kicking myself.

Why the epic fail? Being bored. Instead of focusing on work, like I should be, I'm thinking about ways to avoid it. And one big way to avoid is to eat. I can't interview someone over the phone or type a story when I'm eating, so I'll just surf CNN or Pinterest until I get done. Two hours later, my snack has come and gone and I'm still surfing.

This problem has two glaring faults:

1. I need to quit procrastinating and get my shit together for work

2. Using food as an emotional filler will only make me fat

I work in my kitchen, which I think is part of the problem. How easy is it for me to jump up, walk 20 steps and have a smorgasbord at my fingertips. Way too easy. But until I can get my new work space set up, I have to fight the battle of boredom and conquer my food addiction. Admitting is always the first step and I think for the first time in a long time, I can identify the icky feelings almost immediately, which helps to combat them.

Now I am faced with another dilemma, do I say screw it and have a cheat day or jump right back on the wagon? Tough call, tougher still to do. Part of the reason I'm fat is because I have too many cheat days and not enough on the wagon days. Fit, healthy people are the opposit and since that's what I want to become, its time to change.

Turn that frown upside down and get back to kicking fats ass. I will not let this minor fail derail me. No, no, no! Fat will not win today and I'll be damned if I'm going to lost the lovely feeling of sustained energy just for a quick fix.

Here is a story the USA Today did about bored eating. How do you combat boredom? How does it impact your eating habits?

Feelin' good baby!

My inspiration

Weighing in, whether you've been good or bad, is nerve wracking. Did I lose? Did I gain? Did I stay the same? All obnoxious questions that can be answered by simply stepping on the scale.

Today, before I met with my trainer, I weighed in. Down two pounds. Oh hell yeah!!! Two pounds isn't going to change the world, but its a step in the right direction. This week I have been going hard core. I started a new program that a friend recommended and so far (its the second day I've been using it), I LOVE it!!! I will tell you more about it in a few weeks, after I see how its really working.

It's been a few weeks since my sorry ass has been to the gym, so losing was good. I should be down a lot more but I can't beat myself up over that. Like my good friend PA always says -

Renew your commitment to a healthier lifestyle every morning when you get up!

I know I promised you a fab recipe last week but my flaky sister did not follow through. She is close to being dead to me, but I will give her one more chance. The new recipe coming Friday is yummy chicken kabobs, but if she flakes again (which is very likely to happen) I will be posting something fab. You won't want to miss it.

Any who, how is your battle with the scale? I need some good weight loss stories. How do you stay motivated to keep working?

My trainer said today that losing weight is 90 percent mental, 10 percent physical, do you agree? I sure as hell do! Why do I eat the crappy, comfort foods I love? Thirty-five years of bad habits baby! Getting out from underneath these bad habits will take time. I have to bust a mental sweat as well as a physical sweat (thank you Ben Stiller).

As always, thanks for the loving support I get from all of you! Stay with me, I'm getting skinny . Like Yoda says, "Do or do not, there is no try."

I am doing, are you?

Grillin' and Chillin'

It's June 1st and summer is just around the corner (although not here in Utah - I still have my heat turned on.) But the scorching hot days of summer will be here before we know it and its time to start thinking about healthy summer eating.

Grilling is a great way to prepare food in the summer. Not only do you get the chance to be outside and enjoy summer, but it also is a great low-fat way to prepare all kinds of foods. From the classic grilled steaks and burgers to a new type of grilled pizza's, the Chubby Girls Diary is your place for a summer filled with great recipes your whole family will enjoy. And the best part - all of them will help keep you on your healthy weight loss goals! It's one stop shopping right here!

Tonya and I are super excited to be launching our new and improved blog on June 14! The new blog will feature recipes, links to articles, sponsors, and lots of other great stuff you don't want to miss. Are you getting stoked?

Every Friday we will be sharing our best low-fat grilling recipes just in time for the weekend. Have a great grilled recipe you want to share? Bring it on! We'd love to feature our readers on here and love sharing your great tips.

Stay tuned through out the summer and see what the Chubby Girls Diary can do for you! Our first recipe will be for Tonya's grilled pizza. I'm salivating just thinking about it!

Gravity - Don’t Let it Get You Down

By: Emily Fonnesbeck

As you probably know, gravity is the force that pulls you towards the earth. At a rate of 32.2 ft/s², gravity can be your friend and sometimes your enemy. Tripping on your four-inch heels as you maneuver the stairs? Enemy. Working out? Friend! Confused? Ok, let me explain.

When you work out, and especially when you lift weights, opposing forces help you get the job done. Learning a simple concept can maximize your work out and allow gravity to help you in the best possible way.

Concentric vs. Eccentric Motion

A concentric motion is a motion that closes the joint angle. For example, in a bicep curl, the concentric motion is the one that brings your forearm closer to your body, thus closing that 90 to 180 degree angle. The girl on the right (B) has just finished her concentric movement, bringing the bar close to her.

Conversely, the girl on the left (A) has just finished her eccentric motion, or the motion that makes the joint angle larger. Easy enough, right? Concentric in, eccentric away. Now that you understand the concentric and eccentric motions, you can do something with that little golden nugget of knowledge I have just planted in your brain.

Since we have an illustration, we will use the bicep curl for an example. When the average person does a bicep curl, they tend to curl up (concentrically) fast and hard, and then let gravity take the weight down quickly in the eccentric motion. This is easy to do, and a common mistake, but yes, it is a mistake. This is why: you build more muscle in the eccentric motion than in the concentric motion! Let me rephrase. In the bicep curl, you build more muscle and burn more fat when you concentrate on the “down” portion of the exercise.

            This concept applies to all weight training exercises, and can really make a difference in your training. So, next time you lift weights, really concentrate on what you are doing. Make sure that both the concentric and eccentric motions are slow and controlled, especially on the eccentric. Don’t let gravity pull that weight down! If you have to do a fast motion, make it the motion on the way up, and make the motion on the way down the one that counts.

As always, be careful not to hurt yourself or burn yourself out. A strength training regimen is the like the Prince Charming of your Cinderella weight-loss plan, so make those hours in the gym count!

Being sick

Being sick sucks but it sucks even more when it derails your workout plan. I've been doing well with Tom and eating better. Last week I had a great work out with Tom on Tuesday and felt good. Wednesday morning I got up and was sore, but in a manageable way. But as the day dragged on, it got worse and that's when I knew I had gotten Bridget's cold.

The next few days passed in a blur of the chills, fevers, horrible coughing, runny nose, itchy eyes, ect... And the trees dropping all that pollen isn't helping either. With my asthma and allergies, every cold is worse. It takes me a minimum of a week to get over it. I hate it. PA says that since she's lost her weight she gets over colds faster. I hope the same goes for me.

Now it's Tuesday, May 10. I was supposed to work out with Tom today and weigh in. It was my first milestone week, three weeks since I started with him. I woke up feeling pretty good but still coughing and wheezing. I'm hoping that by staying off the dairy products (it clogs up my lungs) and being diligent in my eating and sleeping patterns, I hope that by Thursday or Friday and I can kick this.

I miss working out (Lord, I never that that would come out of my mouth). Although it's only been a few weeks, I miss that feeling after I've walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes or survived a workout with Tom. Is this what I've been missing all these years? I miss it and I'm going to get back to it this week.

I will keep you posted on how I'm feeling. My goal is to get back to the gym by Thursday and meeting with Tom on Friday. Keep me in your prayers!

Turning a bad day into a good one.

Today I woke up deflated. It felt as though nothing would go right. There is a list of things that made me uber depressed this morning, but I can honestly say now I am feeling better. Why you might ask? Because I think I have turned the corner. The old me would have said eff the diet, but the new me picked myself off the floor, hopped on my trusty wii fit then ate a yummy and healthy breakfast. (Special K Oats and Honey with fresh strawberries. 204 calories and 6g fiber! That was even with 2% milk.)

That bad mood suddenly is gone, replaced by an excitement and desire for my new life. The old me would have eaten whatever I wanted, thinking it was going to make me feel better. But in turn all it really would do is throw me into a spiral of utter guilt. Now I feel wonderful and guilt free. Yay me.

xoxo
Tonya