Archive for food

2 Week Update: Day of Eats

Posted on by

Hey guys!

It’s a Mondenesday over here. If you’re not familiar, that’s a Wednesday that feels like a Monday = stressful. Either way, I’m working away and doing the best I can today. That’s all I can do, right? I’m thinking extra coffee would help, too. 🙂

It’s been almost two weeks since I started my 12 week program with Sohee, so I wanted to give an update and also show you a fairly typical day of eats for me while I’m on this program.

First, things first, here’s an update!

This is the first time in almost 5 years that I’ve been serious about leaning out again. It’s also the first time I’ve tried “dieting” again that has actually felt GOOD as opposed to feeling like a chore. It doesn’t feel like I’m restricted or even really like I’m dieting, for that matter. (If you’re just now hearing about this, I’m following an IIFYM diet).

Hunger

I’m a little bit hungry at times, but that’s normal when dieting (note: starving is NOT normal, but a little hunger is expected). I’m eating enough and it definitely isn’t intense hunger, it’s more of that lingering feeling of wanting something else. I’m actually not even sure if it’s TRUE hunger, to be honest. It can be annoying at times, but it’s definitely not a big deal.

Compliance

I’ve been really good about being compliant with this plan. Like I said, I’m not cutting out anything that I love, so i don’t feel like there’s anything I “can’t” have. If I want something, I just work it into my day. I’m eating enough food and like I said before, I don’t even really feel like I’m on a “diet”.

Results

Friday is my first biweekly in which I’ll submit photos, measurements, and my weight. It will be interesting to compare this to my initial submission and see what has changed. I can already tell a difference, but it will be much easier to tell when I compare photos.

 

So that’s how things are going so far! I’ll start updating with my progress photos once I start submitting my biweeklies…so stay tuned.

Day of Eats

There’s a misconception that by doing an IIFYM based diet that you can just eat junk food and crap all day and still lose weight. That really isn’t the case. You need to eat healthy, nutritious foods about 80-90% of the time (with room for some treats here and there) in order to make the most out of this type of diet. With that said, here are some of my eats for today.

Breakfast:

  • 1 large apple
  • Almond Milk Continental
  • 1 over-easy egg
  • 1 piece of Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage

Lunch:

  • Kombucha (trilogy is my favorite!)IMG_6664
  • Brown Rice, Ground turkey burger, jalapeno cilantro hummus concoctionIMG_6663
  • This little Honey Pattie. This thing was SOOO rich, but made for the perfect little chocolatey dessert. I’d never had one before, but will definitely be buying this again. IMG_6666

Snack:

  • Slap Chocolate Flavored Protein Powder
  • ice
  • almond milk.IMG_6667Blended and enjoyed. (tastes like a milkshake to me…Charlie says it tastes like chalk….guess when you haven’t had a real chocolate milkshake in a while, your taste buds forget. )

 

Snack

Yogurt mess of

  • Fage 0% Greek Yogurt
  • Small handful of Walnuts & Almonds
  • 1 TBSP Peanut Butter

IMG_6668I still have Dinner left for today, but I haven’t decided what that will be just yet!

Hope you’re all having a great day!

Q’s

1. What was the best thing you ate today?

2. What is the one food that you would never want to give up?

 

 

 

 

Posted in food, goals tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Healthy Breakfast Options + Workouts for the Week 9/7-9/12

Posted on by

Is it just me or is today going by painfully slow? It’s weird. Usually my days FLY by and before I know it, it’s 9pm and I can’t figure out where the day went. Today, the clock just isn’t moving. Maybe it’s the supermoon…;-)

How’s your Tuesday going? I forgot my breakfast this morning and ended up with a coffee and a Quest Bar for breakfast.

I love my Cookies & Cream Quest Bars and all, but that is the most lame-o breakfast. I missed my eggs for sure!

Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day. My stomach is empty (making EVERYTHING taste better), and the day is fresh. I always start the day with a healthy breakfast because it sets the tone for the rest of the day. If I have a sugary or heavy breakfast, I’m less likely to make healthy choices throughout the rest of the day. Here are some of my favorite healthy breakfast options to get my day started:

Fit Lizzio’s Favorite Healthy Breakfast Options

#1

2 Scrambled Eggs (seasoned with cayenne pepper, cracked pepper, and garlic powder)

 1/3 cup oats with stevia and cinnamon

#2

1 cup Liquid Egg Whites

1  Alfresco Chicken Sausage (all flavors are good, but i love the smoked andoulle!)

1 apple

9795_af_andu_smokedandouillechickensausage_12ozdincook

#3

2 eggs over easy

1 slice of Ezekiel bread toasted w/ 1/2 TBSP coconut oil

(I think break the yolks on top of the bread and devour….so good!!!)

ezek

#4

1/3 cup oats

1/2 scoop Dymatize Iso 100 Vanilla protein powder

cinnamon & stevia to taste

Dymatize-ISO-100

I have about a million other favorite breakfast choices, but those are my current ones!

I was able to get in a great Shoulder & Chest workout earlier, and plan on boxing tonight again at Iron Boxing.

I love that class so much. I sweat more than I knew was humanly possible! Anyways, here’s what the rest of the week’s workouts look like:

Workouts Week of 9/7-9/12

Sunday: Full Body Workout DONE

Monday: 20 min. HIIT + Rollerblading! DONE

Tuesday: Shoulder & Chest Workout + Boxing Class

Wednesday: Legs!!

Thursday: Boxing

Friday: OFF (Travelling)

Saturday: Back & Plyos

Sunday: OFF

Questions of the Day:

Do you prefer sweet or savory breakfasts?

What is your favorite splurge breakfast?

What is your favorite breakfast staple?

 

Posted in food, weight loss tips, Workout tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My Daily Food Diary + a Leg Workout!

Posted on by

It’s been quite a week over here! Not going to lie, I’m REALLY excited for the weekend! Not only will I have a chance to chill out, but my brother-in-law is coming to visit, too. This week has definitely tested my patience, but I’m determined to come out on top. Facetime with this little guy on Tuesday definitely helped make it all better….

 

MATTY!

MATTY!

If you’ve never Facetimed with an almost-2 year old, I highly recommend it. Haha! This kid cracks me up! I also had a pretty fun assistant in the office for a bit. Meet….RUFUS. He’s the best.

photo(11)

This week’s workouts have been pretty good! I took a much needed rest day yesterday. I actually almost tried to make myself go to the gym in the evening, but I knew it would benefit me to just relax. I just love working out so much and feel so good when I do, that it’s hard for me to rest sometimes. I’ve got a Shoulder/Chest workout on the agenda for this afternoon, so I’ll post that workout tomorrow.

Leg day on Tuesday turned out to be pretty killer. I was sweating like crazy and was definitely glad when it was over. Leg day is my favorite but MAN can it be brutal! Here’s what I did:

Tuesday Leg Workout

4 Sets of Deadlifts (worked up to 169 pounds x 8 reps)

3 Sets of Barbell Reverse Lunges (75 pounds)

3 Supersets of Glute Donkey Kicks on the Leg ext. + Wide Stance KB Goblet Squats

2 Supersets of DB Step Ups + Step Up Jumps

I thought it would be fun to give you guys an idea of how I eat most of the time. I for sure have treats every now and then and don’t worry about it, but this is my 80%. Meaning that 80% of the time, this is how I eat. This is how I choose to eat….not for any other reason than it makes me feel good, supports my training, and still keeps me satisfied. Yep, I EAT CHEESE and lots of FRUIT and omg, I eat after 6pm too….and still live to tell about it. 😉

Fooooooods

8:30am: Large Americano w/ Nonfat Steamed Milk

9am: 2 Scrambled Eggs + 1/2 cup oatmeal OR a slice of Ezekiel bread + an apple

10:30-11am: an apple + almonds OR Cookies & Cream Quest Bar

12-1pm: chicken or turkey + brown rice or quinoa + veggies + sometimes avocado or cheese (sometimes I do a paleo burger too)

3-3:30pm: Cookies and Cream Quest Bar & a Large Americano w/ nonfat steamed milk

4-4:30pm: Workout

6-6:30pm: Chicken, brown rice, bell peppers, & cheese OR this amazingly incredible taco salad

7:30-8pm: Fruit. Grapes or peaches or strawberries or whatever I can get my hands on!

That’s all I’ve got folks…..hope your Thursday is off to a fantastic start!

What’s on your workout agenda for the day?

Posted in food, weight loss tips, Workout tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Monday Food Diary + Abs Pic

Posted on by

Another Monday in the books. Glad I got that one out of the way! It was a good, but busy one! (aren’t they always?)

Workouts

On the workout front, I got my 20 minutes of HIIT on the stairmill in + a bouldering session at Rockreation. I got WORKED at Rockreation. I didn’t take many breaks and was completely sweaty by the end….and I was only there for about 35 minutes! Such a fun sport. I’m so glad I was introduced to it years ago and re-introduced since I’ve been back here in LA.

 

Food Diary Monday, 6/24/14

On the food front, I journaled what I ate yesterday for you guys. I’ll be honest, my breakfast isn’t anything to be proud of. I forgot to make breakfast and this was my best option with the time I had.

Breakfast:

Americano w/ Nonfat Milk

Nugo Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar

Snack:

Americano w/ Nonfat Milk

Lunch:

Paleo Beef Burger (Ground beef, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, ketchup)

Side of fresh fruit

Snack:

Quest Cookies n Cream Bar

Dinner:

Salmon, Avocado, & Brown Rice Sushi (the perfect ratio of protein, fat, carbs)

Mango Slices

Grapes

I realize that I’m a really weird eater, by the way. I eat a lot of fruit. And could easily eat a bag of grapes in one sitting (and often do). I need to be better about my breakfast and morning snack options (Coffee really doesn’t count! Just a busy morning). It’s helpful to look back at a day and see what I’m missing. I could definitely use some veggies, hello! I’ll double up today at lunch. 😉 (Maybe I’ll even take photos of my food one of these days! Haha…i’ll try…)

Here’s what my abs looked like after dinner last night. I’m going to try to take a few each week to see the changes. I’ll also try to take one in the morning before I’ve eaten or drank anything. The difference is quite large…

photo(2)

I’ll be heading down to ABA this evening for a Boxing class. I love boxing and ABA is definitely is the best sweat in Los Angeles. You don’t leave ANYTHING when you take those classes. It’s awesome.

Trying to get a bunch of work done early in the week so that I can jet out early on Friday and head home to hang with my family. I don’t like the 6 hour drive, but I miss them and want to hang with my cute little nephew, sister, brother, dad, and some friends.

Seriously?! Look at him!!!

Seriously?! Look at him!!!

Questions for the Day:

1. What meal is the hardest for you to stay on track with?

(Mine is breakfast just because I’m always rushing out the door. )

2. Have you ever journaled your food? Did it help you?

 

 

Posted in food, Workout tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Oops…

Posted on by

Although I thought I was ready to come back to blogging regularly, actions will show otherwise. I guess I’m not really ready to, nor do I have the time to blog regularly, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been working hard on my goals!

 

As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to lose some weight and find a happy medium between where I was and my competition body. I’m happy to report that I’m down about 8 or 9 pounds and feeling pretty good. The best part? I haven’t cut out any of my favorite things: namely, candy.

I eat some form of candy, usually daily. Not a lot, but some. A roll of sweet tarts is the perfect afternoon pick me up. Another favorite? Pop chips. I realize this isn’t candy, but they taste damn good. I incorporate them in several times a week. So what have I been doing that has worked so well?

 

Balance. Of food, of workouts, of life. Who would have thought…..

Posted in body image, food, Workout

Day 2

Posted on by

So far, so good! I’ll be honest, the lifting plan is kicking my ass more than I thought it would. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done straight sets without supersetting. The last year and a half has been mostly light lifting/plyometrics focusing more on upper or lower body rather than muscle group splits. Right now all I’m doing is 3 sets of 12 reps for each exercise but more volume for each muscle group. I’m sore!

It actually feels good to be eating this clean again. I’ve actually been pretty healthy over the last 1/2 year and I’m basically just cutting out the extras that I was having. (Pop chips, sweet tarts!!)

For the next 3 days, I will be in San Francisco, so I won’t be able to lift. It’s fine since this initial phase of the plan calls for 3 lifting days off. I just rearranged my lifting days. I’m hoping to get some hiking in while I’m in San Fran, but if not, no biggie.

Here’s what food for most days looks like for me:

 

Breakfast: egg whites & oatmeal

Mid-Morning: Smoothie with: Banana, strawberries, protein powder, amazing grass superfood, spinach, and sometimes a little greek yogurt.

Lunch: Chicken & sweet potato with BBQ sauce and veggies (obsessed with this right now)

Snack: Greek Yogurt (plain 0%), blueberries and almonds

Dinner: Chicken or Turkey, sweet potato and veggies

Snack: Haven’t needed one so far, but would be a protein shake or something

 

Anyways, so far I’m feeling good and it feels really nice to eat really clean again. On days where I can’t bring food with me (studio sessions, vacations) I just will make the best choices I can. Which, to be honest, is pretty easy. Getting grilled chicken or egg whites at a restaurant with some veggies usually isn’t too hard to do. Or my personal favorite, turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread!

I’ll likely check back in when I’m back from San Fran. Take care!

Posted in food, San Francisco, Workout tagged with , , ,

Summer is upon us…

Posted on by

And it’s getting hot!! For all of you dealing with the crazy storms, my heart goes out to you! I am happy to not be dealing with that, but it is definitely getting hot here in AZ. The kind of hot where you walk outside in the morning hoping for a nice cool breeze with the sun beaming down, and instead you get hit in the face with a wall of HEAT. Imagine opening an oven, except the world is a really really big oven. Anyways, I’ll stop complaining now 😉

Workouts

This week’s workouts have been kicking my ass. First of all, my sleep pattern is really screwed up. Working sound gigs really takes the life out of me. It’s 14 hours of mostly pushing heavy gear around and in between sitting and waiting. The actual work time of sound checks and mixing is really short compared to the long day you have to put in. Again though, I’m not complaining because I LOVE working shows and it inspires me more and more each time. The moral of the story is that it makes me SO tired. In fact, after Saturday’s gig, I slept for 11 hours. And another 11 hours the night after that.

Monday: 45 minutes of incline walking + quick Leg workout (squats, quadruped hip extensions, SL deadlifts)

Tuesday: Heavy upper body workout + 20 minutes elliptical

Wednesday: 30 minutes incline walking + Conventional deads and burpees

As you can tell, I’ve been throwing some heavy lifting back in the mix. I took off some time from heavy lifting because I mostly just wasn’t into it, and I like to enjoy my workouts! Last Friday I decided to lift heavy and it made me miss it, so this week I brought it back a bit. I’m pretty sore, but my strength hasn’t gone anywhere which is refreshing. I have been doing plenty of body weight and high rep training, and I actually think my endurance has gone up a lot, which helps with the heavy lifting. I’ve always had a lot of endurance with weight lifting, but my upper body sometimes wants to crap out when the reps get high(lower body just goes forever haha) I noticed my upper body endurance has increased, so I’m pretty happy!

FOODS

I’ve been doing pretty well with keeping myself accountable and staying on track. A few mishaps here and there, but for the most part I’ve stayed pretty strong with it. It’s funny how much easier it is to stick to when you’re just ready to do it and how much of a struggle it can be when you just don’t care and want to eat like crap 😀 Don’t get me wrong, I still have a sweet tooth, but I’m managing it.

My latest obsession:

Broiled green beans with cracked pepper and sea salt, slightly burnt. (that part is an old favorite) but the NEW addiction is in the sugar-free ketchup. Yes, it’s artificial and I’m trying to eliminate most artificial things, but it is SO good. It made me realize that I actually don’t like french fries, I like ketchup. Since a green bean mimicks the texture of a french fry in some ways, it works  quite well. Try it!

What’s your latest food obsession?

Posted in food, Workout tagged with , , , , ,

Remember me?!

Posted on by

Holy crap!! I have completely neglected this blog. Life has been nuts, but that isn’t why I haven’t blogged on here. I just haven’t felt compelled to write about fitness/nutrition lately, so I started a music blog called It Just Sounds Good.

The good news, though, is that I plan on updating this blog as well! I miss blogging on here, and miss interacting with my awesome readers! I hope there are still some out there!

So what have I been up to?? EVERYTHING!!!! In keeping things simple, I still work out daily, but my workouts are somewhat different. I’ve been running a lot more, doing more plyometric/circuit/compound exercises in the gym and have shyed away from heavy lifting. My reasoning? For one, I just haven’t felt like it. I’m really liking the fast-pace movements lately. The other reason…well I have a pretty decent amount of muscle, I don’t want more, and I tend to put on muscle fairly easily! I know that many people say this, but I actually got a blood test and my testosterone levels are slightly higher than the average female (maybe i’m a man? haha justtt kidding) but this is common for weight lifters, actually. With that said, I will still throw in some conventional lifting days here and there, but for the most part I’m running 5-8 miles 3 days a week, doing 2-3 circuit/plyo workouts in the gym per week, and on then some track workouts and boot camp style workouts usually about once per week. I occasionally am boxing (when I can wake up that early!) and have also been riding my bicycle around to run my short errands!!

The Food

Well in January, I decided I needed to overhaul my view on food. I have to be honest with you guys, I’ve gained a pretty good amount of weight since I competed. I no longer have that tiny lean body, but I’m not a big tub of lard either. I am muscular, with some extra padding is the best way to put it! My weight around competition time was about 130, these days I’m about 155. A 25 pound weight gain….It’s embarassing, frustrating, and is completely my fault. I will say, however, that I’m at a healthy weight for my height and build, and besides my elevated testosterone levels(sounds so funny haha), all of my blood tests came back saying that I’m a healthy bean, so I really have to remind myself to be thankful of that!

How Competing Changed Me

Competing was an amazing experience. I decided in December 2008 to get in the best shape of my life and compete, and I DID! I will be honest, my body looked smokin’!!! (Of course at the time, I only saw my flaws.) I  guess being so naive to the sport was a blessing, because I had a great prep (no crazy carb-cutting) and did well. It was after competing that things got a little hairy. Suddenly, those who saw potential in me, started giving me advice. They told me what I should/shouldn’t do, and it was coming from many different angles. It really made me view everything differently and I got a very bad mental view on food, eating and working out. I could go on and on (and if you’d like me to, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail and I’ll do an entire post on my thoughts/feelings on everything). I started to try to put on muscle, and also was eating more to do so. This slight weight gain looked to me like I had gained 50 pounds! Your body image gets really screwed up when you get super lean. Anything above that, and you truly believe you’re fat. From there, it was downhill and I have basically yo-yo’ed my weight for the last year and a half.

How I’ve Changed Recently

Going back to my “overhaul” this past January, I decided to STOP restricting the types of foods I was eating, and be a “normal person.” I have still been counting calories, but I haven’t been restricting WHAT I can eat. I’ve eaten gummy candy (helloooo sour gummy worms!), sandwiches (oh, how i missed those turkey sandwiches), and even the occasional sweet treat. In doing so, I haven’t really lost weight, but I haven’t gained weight either. I haven’t been “perfect” but that wasn’t my goal. My goal was to rid myself of viewing foods as good or bad and stopping myself from being so obsessive about the types of foods I was eating.

The Verdict

I finally feel good about food. I feel like I have made LEAPS in the last 3 months. Had I done this a year ago, I think things would have been much easier. As dumb as it sounds, I feel very proud of this. I know many people who absolutely fall into eating disorders from competing and seem to never free themselves, but I finally feel freed from it. I don’t think that I had an eating disorder, but did I have a skewed view on food? Heck yes I did. Very screwed up.

Body Image Now and Goals

I still suffer from some body image issues. After all, I’m not lean anymore(and hello, i’m a girl!), and it’s a hard pill to swallow. I don’t look the way that I want to, but my goals have also changed. A happy weight for me these days would be about 140. I think I was a bit too small at 130, and although I did love that look, it was hard to maintain. I think that I could maintain a 140 pound body without being “crazy” about a strict diet. So, with April 1st being tomorrow, and me being cliche, I’m going to start tightening up my diet a little bit. I know you’re probably thinking “Lizzy, you just told us you were getting away from that, what’s with this?!” But the fact of the matter, is that my mind is different now. I feel comfortable cleaning up my diet a bit (less junk, more wholesome foods, slightly less calories) without falling back into a distorted view of food and eating. While I don’t believe you have to eat squeaky clean to lose weight (you absolutely do NOT) I prefer to eat this way for the most part. It doesn’t mean I won’t have the occasional turkey sandwich or beef jerky (another recent obsession) but probably not as frequently. (Not to mention beef jerky is too damn expensive!)

GOALS

-Lose 15 pounds

-Continue viewing food in a healthy way

-Keep doing the work outs I love

-Stress out LESS

-Don’t dwell on my flaws!

Wow, that was a marathon of a post!! I also want to note, I’m VERY HAPPY with life right now. I’m following my dreams in the music business and I couldn’t be more blessed with everything going on. Hopefully I didn’t portray that I have been depressed or anything, because that definitely ISN’T the case. I’m very happy, but ready to make some changes as well.

Anyways, I’m not sure what direction to take the blog, so your input would be greatly appreciated! For now, I will be posting workouts, healthy recipes, and my thoughts/feelings toward my weight loss and fitness. Share this with your friends too! I’d like to share my experiences with others and build a network on the Fit Lizzio blog.

What are your goals for April?

Here are some recent pictures as well. My sister is getting married next weekend too, so I will be sure to post pictures from that!!

From left to right: Aunt Suzie, my sister Rachel, me, Grandpa(just turned 90 and still works out everyday!!), little brother Ben(so little right? HA), mother, Aunt Nancy

My best friend Taylor(left) myself and my sister Rachel(right) on my birthday

Most people go to Ostrich farms on their birthday..right?

My friend Maggie, myself and Morgan at my other birthday dinner. This is right before I ate a RAW QUAIL EGG. and it was good….

That’s all for now folks!

Posted in Fit Lizzio, food, motivation, pressure, Running, Workout tagged with , , , , , , ,

The Rad-Cake

Posted on by

This is a healthy, fiberlicious protein pancake recipe I just made and it was so damn good, I had to share it. I call it the Rad Cake because it was so good-both taste – wise and nutritionally- that it just needed a better name than a pancake.

The Rad-Cake

Ingredients:

2 TBSP Psyllium Husk

1/4 cup Wheat Bran

1 T Chia Seeds

1 T Whole Flax Seeds

1/2 Scoop Xyience Xy-Pro Chocolate Protein Powder

4 medium egg whites

cinnamon/stevia to taste

1/2 tsp no sodium baking powder

Mix all ingredients and cook it like a pancake.

Nutrition Facts:

Makes 1 Serving

Calories: 267

Fat: 6 g

Carbohydrates: 26 g

Dietary Fiber: 21 g

Protein: 28 g

Do you see that?? 5 g of net carbs. This is a TON of fiber, so if you’re not used to fiber, you can do smaller amounts of the wheat bran/psyllium husk/flax seeds.

Yum-berrries.

Posted in contest prep, cooking, fiber, food, rad-cake, recipes, Uncategorized tagged with , , , ,