Tuesday, September 4, 2012


Tone It Up Tuesdays: a long blab about working out.

 

I have had a battle with keeping weight off my whole life. I finally got to a point in my life when I got older, where I started keeping the weight off from working out and taking care of myself. Actually, when I was about 9 years old, the doctor started warning me about Diabetes, since it ran in my family so thick. So I had to start cutting the sweets and taking care of myself at a young age. I mean, everyone should. It’s just always better to live a healthier lifestyle. (Although, chocolate, fried foods and sugar are always a fun thing; D). So through the years I have tried all kinds of diets and things like that.

 Earlier this year I tried doing a diet called the HCG diet by Wellgenix. It’s a 3 week program in which you take HCG drops 3 times a day and go on a 500 calorie a day, low carb, low sugar diet. I know your probably thinking “500 calories???? Really???” But it’s actually not that bad. I did it. And lost 7 inches in my waist total. The HCG curbs your appetite so the lack of calories actually didn’t affect me that bad.

 

 You can’t go too hard on your workouts  though. You will get tired if you do. I say do VERY low impact weight workouts and a medium impact cardio workout and basic crunches. That’s what I did. Any more than that  can make you feel very worn out.

 

 Now the way your meals are set up are two meals a day, no breakfast and 2 snacks. 1 for in between meals during  the day and 1 at night. Usually try to keep your meals 200 calorie per meal and 50 calories per snack. Now if you get less than 500 in one day than THAT’S OK. It will not hurt you. NEVER eat unless you are hungry. Keep your carbs under 30 a day. Same for sugars. And try to not go over 15 grams of fat a day.

 

 So the workout I did on this diet was the elliptical. For those of you who are wondering what this is……… Here you go


 

Most of you have most likely seen this before. It’s kind of like a cross between a bike and a treadmill. If you are not a runner, then try this. Same amount of impact, just taking the pressure off of your back and neck. They have these in all gyms; I did this every day for 1 hour, for the 3 weeks for my cardio. Although they say to do something different everyday. So maybe do this some days and take up cycling classes on other? Or you could even run too.

 

 Ok so what I did for Arm weight workouts was pretty basic. Any basic arm workout will work. I really like this one. I still use it to this day. http://www.shape.com/celebrities/interviews/marisa-millers-supermodel-worthy-ab-workout?page=1 It’s more of a higher impact then most weight workouts for women, but I guess it all depends on how heavy the weight is that you will be using. Make sure you use a weight that is heavy enough to have an impact, but is also comfortable. I use 8 pounds. They say that when you do weights on certain muscles, to wait 48 hours to do it again. So it will give you time for your muscle to re-build. So one day do arm muscles, next day do legs, then arms, then legs, I think ya get it nowJ.

 

 Ok so moving on to the leg workout. The leg weights I did were pretty basic. Since these are your legs you don’t want to go on to heavy of a workout since you’re eating 500 calories a day and you’re using your legs for cardio too. Like I said…..You do NOT want to get wore out. It’s easy to get that way on such a low calorie diet. So anyways, the leg workout I did while on this diet went like this:

10 lunges on each leg while using 8 pound weights.

10 squats using 8 pound weights.

10 deadlifts using 8 pound weights.

Wall squat for one minute.

Hip raises for 1 minute.

Side leg lifts for 1 minute on each side.

Repeat once again after completing.

And that was what I did to tone up the legs!

 

So now I guess we are moving on the abs. Some people say to not work abs every day, but others say to do it every day. I do it every day. My ab workout is somewhat simple. Goes like this.

10 basic crunches

10 sit ups

10 basic crunches

10 sit ups

10 basic crunches

10 leg lifts.

-Stretch-

10 basic crunches

10 right side crunches

10b basic crunches

10 left side crunches

10 basic crunches

10 leg lifts

1 minute plank

30 sec side plank – each side.

-Stretch-

Do this twice a day. Once in the morning once at night.

 

 

So that’s all I did for working out. Now I’m gonna show you some things I did for the diet. Good easy things for lunch I usually did were the Hillshire Farm Grilled Essentials Chicken Breast. They are already cooked and seasoned all you have to do is throw them in the microwave for 60 seconds! They are only 120 calories, 19 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat and only 2 grams of carbs. You can check it out here http://www.hillshirefarm.com/products/grilled-chicken/ you can find these at any grocery store (Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc.). I usually would have one of these and a green vegetable. And I would do this for lunch and dinner.

 

 Another thing I would do for my meals was seafood. I loved Gorton’s grilled tilapia. It’s only 80 calories and is very low carb – low fat. You can check it out here! http://gortons.com/product/signature-grilled-tilapia And I would usually eat a green veggie with this.


 Now I know you’re probably getting tired of the green veggies since you probably want starches! So a good replacement is mashed cauliflower. Yes I said that. Mashed Cauliflower....... I know if you don’t like cauliflower, your probably thinking “GROSS”……. But actually, it tastes NOTHING like cauliflower! It is the same taste and texture of mashed potatoes. And is extremely good. Basic Mashed Cauliflower……

One of my all-time favorite side dishes !

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 head of cauliflower

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter  butter spray.

Hidden Valley Ranch powder.

Salt and pepper.

Process:

Rinse cauliflower under cool water.

Trim florets from the base of the cauliflower.

Place a steamer basket in a large soup pot and fill the bottom of the pot with water.

Place cauliflower florets into the steamer basket, cover with a lid and turn burner onto medium heat.

Steam cauliflower until fork tender. About 10-15 minutes.

Place steamed cauliflower into a food processor or high speed blender.

Open the butter spray and pour until it tastes to your liking. Stir the cauliflower, then put a tablespoon of  the ranch powder and stir. Add salt and pepper if you desire.

 

There you go! It is a great side to have with your meals on a low carb diet and is WONDERFUL.

 

 For snacks I would usually eat strawberries and chocolate…….Your probably thinking “Is she crazy?” But actually I found this company that makes chocolate dips, sauce, caramel dip, salad dressings, marshmallow cream and more! That has literally NOTHING in it. NO carbs NO sugar NO fat NOTHING. Adn it is AMAZING! It’s called Walden Farms and is great for dipping fruit in for those who are not fans of just regular fruit. Here is the site for them http://www.waldenfarms.com/ you can buy these at stores such as Kroger, Rice Epicurean, Whole Foods, Randall’s, etc.

 

 So your probably wondering what veggies you can eat and what you can’t eat on this diet….. So I am going to give you a list. List of Veggies for this diet: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatveg.htm

 

 

Now comes fruit. This is the list of fruit you can eat on the diet. http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatfruit.htm

 

 

Well I as wonderful as this chat has been, I guess my blab is done here. Here is a link to where you can buy the HCG http://www.physicaladdictions.com/Weight-Loss/HCG

 

NOTE:  If you live in the Webster, Lamarque or Pearland area, then I DEFINITELY recommend you visit TransforME Fitness Studio. It is professional quality fitness that you can’t get anywhere else! Check it out! http://www.bodybyfrancesbootcamp.com/

You will not be disappointed! They are AWESOME!

 

Well lovelies, I’ve enjoyed writing  todays blog and hope it helps you beautiful ladies out. Remember, lose weight for YOU and your health, not because of the nasty, negative things people say. Because we are Women. And we are ALL BEAUTIFUL <3

 

Have an amazing day

Love, Abby Gough XOXO

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