Shannon’s Slimdown with Dragon Gym: Energy Day and more!

After a delayed start to my training last week due to my crazy schedule, I was able to still get 3 training sessions in with Steve from Dragon Gym. My biggest regret of last week’s training is that I wasn’t able to fit in my O.T.A session due to said scheduling issues. I was really hoping to take my training up a notch to 4 sessions last week, but I just have to do the best I can and move forward this week.

I was really feeling good during last week’s training; feeling strong and capable. Then, on Saturday, I arrived at Dragon Gym expecting Steve to focus our session on either a strength building and/or conditioning routine. Steve instead informed me that it was “Energy Day”. When I asked him to define that term he told me (with a smile) that Energy Day focuses on just “doing the work”, essentially moving quickly, perhaps with less precision, through a series of exercises and not resting in between.

I’m still not clear why he calls it Energy Day (kidding, Steve!) since I was feeling anything but energetic as I went through a 6 exercise circuit with a medicine ball and high jumps and then a 6 exercise circuit with a large, heavy rope and kettlebells. But, I DID IT. And, afterwards, I was feeling pretty energized 🙂

I followed through on most of my eating change commitments that I shared with you last week. I have to say that I got some really great feedback for snack ideas and eating “on the go” and I wanted to share them with you:

Sierra said: We have fruit and yogurt for breakfast or even a yogurt smoothie (kids love them too). I also make a big batch of hummus on the weekends for snacking throughout the week with fresh veggies (I chop a ton of celery and carrots and also eat the hummus with tomatoes and cucs).

Trina said: One thing that I do is buy a bunch of veggies and cut them up and put them out at lunch time and keep them out throughout the day, so if I get that urge to eat junk I just look at those veggies. Plus, the kids can pick on them throughout the day too.

Heather said: I struggle with the need for carbs to satisfy my hunger, but greek yogurt is my new best friend. It really does fill you up – and I think it’s mostly in my head that I “need” carbs.

And then I got this really great suggestion for meal and grocery planning:

Lara said: Meal and grocery planning used to be a nightmare for me until I created a grocery spreadsheet. I set it up with six sections based on the different areas in my usual store. All of our regular purchases (milk, cheese, eggs, etc…) are listed in the corresponding section. When I get ready to shop, I print a copy of the list, cross off any of the regular items I don’t need that week, pull the recipes for the week’s meals and write in the ingredients/items I need to get. Having it divided into sections makes getting through the store easier (even with two bored kids along) and helps me keep a handle on the budget because it cuts down on impulse purchases. It only takes about 30 minutes to set up but for me it’s been totally worth it! Good luck!

A topic that Steve and I discussed alot last week were healthy eating strategies for me while we are entertaining. Over the last 2 weekends, we were having people over to our house 4 different times. I wanted to be sure that I served tasty food that everyone would enjoy but also not sabotage my own healthful eating goals. My biggest struggle is self-control… so if “bad” foods are in my house, I am much more likely to eat them.

Some of the strategies that I implemented were:

1.) Eating some fruit or veggies before our guests arrived, so I wasn’t as tempted to eat as many appetizers.

2.) I put out both bread/crackers AND apples with our cheese plate and stayed away from the bread.

3.) I planned out what I would let myself “indulge” in for the evening, so I knew that I had a splurge to look forward to, and that helped me stay away from other temptations.

4.) I kept my portions really small so that if I really wanted to taste the sweet potato casserole on Easter I could do it, but I only had 2 spoonfuls, and it was enough to satisfy the desire.

What are your go-to healthy appetizers and entrées to serve guests? I need a better catalog of tasty healthy recipes and ways to make my old stand-bys better for us. And, what do you do to be sure that you can stay on track when entertaining?

Philaburban Mom