Lose 15 pounds with me!!

So here is the deal.  I just had a baby, and I am not the kind that easily loses the baby weight.  I'd like to get back into running, but with a baby that may or may not wake up several times during the night, and no one the take the kids at night or during the day for a run, I am limited.

ALSO, I am struggling with shaking the cravings, and consequently the last 15 pounds!  SO I decided to remove the refined sugars in the house and eat a lot more veggies. Out of site out of mind, right? Ah but I have a wonderful husband who keeps bringing home my favorite sweets. WHAT was wrong with me? I am having a hard time going into my old healthy habits. Sooooo, I was thinking about how I could get into a healthy habit, and make good choices! What better way then to do it marathon style, eh?  Apparently I am not doing well on the changing habits cold turkey.  Just like a person training for a marathon has to start out small and consistently take the run up a notch; I am going to do that with my physical health! This is NOT for people who want fancy recipes with 400 rare ingredients.... well most will be gluten free, so you might see a few with some weird ingredients, but I'll try to put I the "glutenous" version too!

  So, starting this Monday I am giving myself a goal for the week.  Though I have been doing better in the area of eating sugar, I'm going to allow some extra room for mistakes or unexpected celebrations where I am expected to eat more refined sugar.

SWEETS
  Mondays are family night, so we have a treat of some kind in the evening, and usually on the weekend I have one with my husband for a date.  So technically I should stop there, or at least that was my hope before.  I struggled with stopping there.  So I am going to allow four other SMALL treats during the week.  Yes, I am eating more than this in a week so this week we are starting with a low expectation.  A treat should stay a treat NOT a daily thing.  If you have a treat daily it no longer is a treat, it is a dietary norm, and can become an addiction. I may end up with almost one a day in the end, at least I am counti g and minimizing the size of it.

FRUIT
  Also, some of you may not know this, but fruit has a lot of unneeded sugar.  Serving sizes are vital here.  We can convince ourselves that we are eating healthy just because it's not a refined sugar; but too much can really slow down your health.  We all hear about how refined sugar can make a person moody (especially hormonally imbalanced children and adults) well too much fruit can do the same thing.  You might be surprised at how many calories and sugars you are consuming is a relatively small amount of fruit.  Eating a fruit with lots of fiber is a good choice, or eating a fruit that has less sugar in it.  Some of the worst ones to eat are grapes and oranges.  A serving size of grapes are seven average sized grapes. I know,..bummer.  With this knowledge I am going to limit myself to 3 fruit servings a day- split up how ever I'd like.  I plan to have one of those servings after dinner.  I usually crave some sweets at around 10 or 11 at night, it mind as well be a fruit instead of candy.

GRAINS
  Next are the type and amount of grains I eat in a day.  This can be a pretty hard thing to beat if you really love pastries, breads, pasta, etc.  Having to eat gluten free, I learned to let go of many of those things several years ago, but that doesn't mean I am following the Atkins diet! Eat whole wheat if you can.  It has a large amount of carbs in it, but is also full of fiber and protein and other great things.  Many store bought breads that say "whole wheat" on it aren't really whole wheat, but also contain many other bad flours, sugars, and less of the good stuff. Look on the label and compare proteins and fiber.
I will post some good recipes you can use with whole wheat.

PASTA/RICE
  Before I learned about having Celiacs, I learned that if I ate half the amount of pasta that I usually eat, I felt better and also lost some weight.  But here is the kicker, I was used to putting A LOT of pasta on my plate, I mean  A LOT.  I loved every thing with lots of Carbs.  Look at your fist (loosely), that is about how much you should have.

BREADS/PASTRIES
  Once again, READ the back labels.  I found that when my exercise was low or very light, half a sandwhich (or one slice of bread)was my serving size.  Of course you need to consider your size and physical activity.  But if I was going to also eat fruit and veggies and protein (meats, beans, nuts, etc) then I could easily fill myself up, without to much bread.  Since my physical activity is pretty low at the moment, this suits me just fine.  Since I can't eat bread, I usually use a corn tortilla with my lunch or no grain at all and use my servings on breakfast and dinner.

DAIRY
  Well, here is a touchy topic.  Many diets out there do not approve of dairy, and many people out there are intolerant to it.  Frankly, I am somewhat addicted to it. However, I was once unable to handle milk and eventually was able to slowly introduce it back into my life.  My inability to fill up easily with a grain, led me to make up for that with cheeses and other such things.  My cooking passion is cheesecake.   However, it really isn't healthy to eat cheese, it's loaded with  fat and things that could be harmful to those susceptible to heard and other intestinal problems.
   My problem is, that it wouldn't be easy at all to remove these things from my life. I'd have to not only change my snack habits, but most of my recipes as well.  I am not very skilled in cooking, or at least I don't think so, there are few things that I have a passion for cooking.  Many of you are different, and could succeed in this better than I could.  There are many substitutes out there.  I have a soy milk maker, you could buy rice milk, soy milk , and almond milk (which is the healthiest).  I've seen dairy-free sour cream, and a friend of mine even found a recipe for dairy free cheesecake!  It's totally possible.  It could, however, add more work to your day or more money from your pocket.  Being in a tight spot myself, I feel a bit limited in my options.
  My goal: no cereal in the morning with "real" milk.  One cheese item a day. Exception for Monday treats if necessary, and birthdays.

Protein
  Meats, beans, nuts, etc.  White meats are healthiest.  Beans may remind you of gas, but if cooked right and often enough, you don't need to worry about this.  Before people went to the store and picked up a bag of chicken breasts, you had to kill, pluck, and so on and so forth to eat a chicken.  BUT beans are different. You'll be surprised at all the things you can make with beans, and get a lot of protein and also fill yourself up with good protein instead of sugars, carbs, and other things.  My goal this week is to find a NEW recipe that uses beans as a main ingredient instead of Chicken.!

In a Nutshell
(Week 1 in my get healthy Marathon)
Sugars-  Mondays, 1 on the weekend, and 4 small during the week
Fruit -    3 servings a day
Grains-  4 servings a day
Dairy -  no cereal in the morning with "real" milk.  One cheese item a day. Exception for Monday treats if necessary, and birthdays.
Protein - eat a lot for me, and find a new recipe that has a lot of beans


Exercise:
Now those of you that know me, this is where I am willing to push, but my exercise goal next week is at least 3 miles once next week.
 --my goal I suggest for you, is exercise enough to make you sweat and cringe for 30 minutes at least once next week