Wow, that was a lot of reading and catching up. No time for the YMCA tonight! I'll hit the exercycle later. I've been going to the Y for weight training and my fitness coach only recommends it every other day anyway. I also like to use the elliptical there.
Anyway just some general tips. I've posted a lot of this on other threads, but I'll put it all here as well. Most of the things I do are from articles I've read online and just made mental notes to try. If I had to read whole books, I'd never manage (reading whole threads on sowal.com is more my speed. I have such a short attention span and there aren't enough hours in the day!) So in no particular order, here's some food for thought (pun intended!)
1) Eat more and eat more often - but eat the right foods. Don't deprive yourself. Snack on fruits, veggies, whole grain flatbreads & chips, hummus, salsas, etc (just a few ideas.) I usually take over an hour to finish my breakfast. I start at home with a glass of OJ, then take a ziploc bag of whole grain cereal to work along with low fat yogurt. Wheat chex and frosted mini-wheats are my faves. And I just nosh on them at my desk with the yogurt while I work. About an hour later I have a small banana or apple. My lunches lately have been wraps - I usually cut them in half and don't eat them at the same time. I also bring carrot chips, low fat cottage cheese, pink grapefruit sections, etc. And I find myself eating parts of it every half hour or 45 mins. So I really never let myself get hungry. Don't know if it's true or not, but what I read is that eating smaller meals more often will cause your body to burn fat rather than muscle. But it seems to work well for me regardless of the science.
2) I buy into the water drinking - if nothing else, it helps make you feel more full. And it keeps your skin more healthy and hydrated and radiant (which means less wrinkles - how's that for a good reason to drink more water?)
3) Splurge at the grocery store on convenient, healthy products. Here's a
list of some I can't live without - some are kind of expensive, others are just handy to have around:
Tropicana OJ with fiber
Del Monte Sunfresh Pink Grapefruit Sections and Tropical Fruit Salad in glass jars (the latter is red and yellow papaya with pineapple - YUM!)
Flat-Out wraps (I buy the multi-grain that have 8 grams fiber, but there are other varieties with less fiber - lots of recipe ideas on their website:
http://www.flatoutbread.com/movie.html
Canned diced tomatoes (plain, w/green chilies, w/garlic & olive oil, etc.)
Canned beans (black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, cannelini beans)
Albacore tuna in water (in cans and in the little vacuum seal bags)
Barilla Plus Pasta - more recipe ideas on their website:
http://www.barillaus.com/PLUS_Information.aspx
Minute Brand or Success Brown Rice
Breakstone Lowfat Cottage Cheese in 4-packs
Yoplait Light & Fit & Creamy Yogurt (the low fat, artificially sweetened alternative to their custard style yogurt)
Premade Hummus (various brands)
Emeril's Vinaigrette Salad Dressings (Balsamic, Dijon and Italian - all have only 3 fat grams per servings)
Bagged Salads
Carrot Chips (the ridged slices which for some reason intrigue me more than the baby carrots)
Snyder's Multigrain Tortilla Chips
Tostitos Natural Blue Corn Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
"Ak-mak" - 100% whole wheat stone ground sesame crackers
Fresh herbs in the tube in the produce section
Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch Cereal
Green Giant Select Frozen Veggies in the box (and those new Birds-Eye ones you can cook in the bag that kathydwells mentioned!)
Individually frozen fish filets
Prepackaged sliced turkey, roast beef and FAT FREE HAM
in the resealable plastic containers (they keep fresh longer than the meat you can buy in the deli - just works better for me)
I could go on and on - but if you keep these types of things around in your fridge and pantry it's pretty easy to throw a healthy meal together.
4) Do whatever physical activity you like and works best for you (whether that's yoga, spinning, cardio machines, weight training or just chasing after your kids & pets or walking on the beach. It's all good.)
That's all I have time for right now 'cause now I'm hungry and I need to fix dinner (and a healthy layered Salad Nicoise for a potluck baby shower at work tomorrow!)
)