Stuck in the house AGAIN

I knew the storm was coming and I'd be stuck in the house all weekend so I purposely made sure only healthy food and snacks were in the house. I was doing well until boredom and possibly postpartum hormones struck.....I wanted chocolate. I tore through our cabinets and found some sugar free chocolate jello pudding. SCORE! I made it with nonfat skim milk, put sliced bananas on top and divided into 1/4 cup size portions. IT WAS AWESOME! Even the hubby (whom normally turns his nose up to anything sugar free, said it was delightful). So there you go..thank you Jello for saving my diet and my waistline when I had cabin fever.

In one of my weight management classes that I teach, a trainer taught us how to aerobically exercise...correctly. Using the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale, one can rate the level of perception of exertion. This basically means how tough and strenuous the exercise feels to you while working out . The RPE Scale does give you a good sense of intensity of your level of exercise and you can use the scale to determine if you need to speed up or slow down your activity level. The scale goes from 6 to 20, with 6 meaning "no exertion at all" and 20 means "max. exertion". To see where you are on your exercise routine go to www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/measuring/exertion.html. Hey if you are going to work out, make the most effective workout you can so you can lose the maximum amount of calories.

Take home lessons for the week:

1) I need to switch up my exercise routine or my body and muscles will get use to the routine. No treadmill everyday! Switch off to the elliptical next week and increase the intensity. Check my RPE when working out to see if I am getting the most out of my workout.

2) Keep the high calorie, high fat foods out of the house......especially if there is a blizzard coming!

3) Modify recipes. Really any recipe can be altered to make it healthy. Check out this one at www.mrsdash.com/recipes/recipe-view.aspx?recipeID=963. Replace the chicken with the 95% lean, (or leaner if you can find it), ground turkey, decrease the amount of ground meat in half and double the peppers! Voila! Less calories and fat and more fiber, potassium and vitamin C. YUM! Perfect in the crock pot too. Just brown the turkey using a non stick pan and a canola or olive oil spray. Place all ingredients including the browned turkey in the crock pot on high for 4 hours. Nice when you are snowed in!

Off to the gym for a nice long cardio session on the treadmill.

Cheers,

The Dieting Dietitian