Phit-N-Phat...Making Fitness and Weightloss a Lifestyle

PNP In the News

The Little Rock Marathon was one of the proudest moments of my life. I worked hard, ran with great friends, and accomplished something I never dreamed I would as an overweight girl who needed to lose 110lbs.

My pal Jessica was featured in a local magazine and she talked about PNP. I invite everyone to read it and then learn from us.

We weren't always runners, most of us lost a bunch of weight in the last few years, and we started it all because we thought why not.

I don't have time to exercise/train...

Don't say you don't have enough time.  You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.  ~Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

 

I am too fat, slow, or not good enough...

Life's problems wouldn't be called "hurdles" if there wasn't a way to get over them. Author Unknown

 

I will be in last place...

Last place is the girl on her couch. ~Corinne Crabtree

 

What if I can't finish...

The miracle isn't that I finished...the miracle is I had the courage to start. ~John Bingham

Protein Pancakes and Quinoa Salad...Yummy!

It was another successful food prep Sunday at the PNP house! I got a lot of good stuff done and since everyone seems so interested in what I eat and how organized my fridge is I thought I would do it again.

Let me say, the rest of the house is a wreck. Don't think for a SECOND the Crabtree's roll orderly and clean. We don't!

My menu this week is:

M1 - 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1 yogurt, 1/2 cup of mixed berries
M2 - 1 turkey burger on WW bun, 1 cup of pepper slices or Cucumber Salad
M3 - Cottage Cheese Smoothie (1/2 cup of CC, 1 dry serving of SF Choco Mix, 1 tbsp of Instant Coffee, 1 packet of Splenda, ice and water)
M4 - Apple or 2 Cuties (small, easy peel oranges)
M5 - (after strength) 4 oz. of Sweet Potato or homemade hot slaw, 4 oz. of baked cod, 1 small can of green beans
M6 - Protein Pancakes or Qunioa Salad on top of green salad
M7 - Chicken Marinara on top of green salad
M8 - Cottage Cheese Smoothie with mixed berries

1820 calories a day and I add in an extra apple or 1/2 serving of almonds on big exercise days to fill in the gaps.

Now for pics and recipes!

 

 

 

 

Quinoa Black Bean and Corn Salad (This will make you slap your Momma!)

I changed it a tad. I did 1 cup of dry quinoa and used 1 tbsp of EVOO. I didn't use the feta, chicken, or Epazote. I also used regular oregano and just tossed all the seasonings into the quinoa, mixed, then put in the black beans and corn and stirred. It was SOOOO GOOOD. Logan and Chris ate it up big time.

This dish is so loaded with healthy food, good protein, and vegetarian friendly. If you are gluten intolerant it's a winner! I like eating it in the late afternoon because I strength train from 1:45 - 2:45 and by 4-5pm I want something with protein and healthy carbs. This way at dinner I can go to a protein based meal and not feel deprived.

 

Cucumber Salad

This is very easy. Slice some cucumbers, some red onion, and cherry tomatoes. Put some salt on it, mix it up and pour a little Lowfat or Fat Free Italian over it. It tastes better after a couple of days.

My granny used to eat this over cottage cheese all the time. I might do that this week for a cool afternoon snack!

 

 

 

Protein Pancakes

1/2 cup of old fashioned oats
1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese
dash of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 packet of Splenda
1/4 cup of egg whites

Put all ingredients in your blender and blend until smooth and like cake batter. Pour onto med-high griddle or pan sprayed with cooking spray. Cook until the edges are brown and flip for another minute or two.

Sometimes I toss in berries to the mix and skip the egg whites (add 1 tbsp of water if needed) to make a flavored pancake. You can also do a couple of slices of bananas, 1 tbsp of peanut butter, or even 1-2 tbsp of choco pudding (sugar free powder) to make a chocolate pancake.

The basic pancakes without added fruits and such are almost 300 calories. I don't use syrup on them. You could use sugar free jelly, syrup, or eat two with a little peanut butter in between like a sandwich.

YouTube - Protein Pancakes - Make Em Pretty

Chicken Marinara

In your crockpot, place 2 nice sized chicken breasts (skinless and boneless). Pour one jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. Dump one bag of frozen chopped spinach, chopped broccoli, and 2 cups of green pepper strips. Let cook on low for five hours. Shred the chicken when done and then serve over fresh spinach, lettuce, or pasta through the week.

Goals Are Never Silly

I'm not sure why this is, but most women do it. They think their own goals are not good enough, not important, or beneath the next person. This happens so much at PNP that it drives me a little insane. I constantly read posts that start with...

 

"I know this will sound stupid, BUT my goal is..."

"My goal is just to BLANK which is so small compared to most of you."

"I don't really have a goal because what I want isn't important."

 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Ladies, what kind of world are we in when what YOU want is stupid, not important, or unworthy? We all have goals and regardless of what the goals are they are important or they wouldn't be a GOAL.

I want to share a video of my mom. Let me start by saying I had to stop the video once or twice to tell her to STOP prefacing the goals with you might laugh or this is so dumb. If I don't change anything with Mammy it's going to be the whole let me dismiss what's important just in case I fail syndrome.

Oh wait! You don't know what that is? Well, I just happen to record myself talking about it. Excuse the lighting and I just got back from running so I look a little sporty!

YouTube - Goal Are Not Silly

Now onto Mammy. Her goals are beautiful and so simplistic that it's easy to make a plan to achieve them.

YouTube - Mammy Sets Her Goals

By the way, she lost 2.2 lbs. this week after not losing anything last week. Yeah Mammy! She was also down almost 5 inches in the last four weeks. We were going to do her strength session last week but Logan had other plans. We will do it this week but now that I know what her real goals are it will be easy for me to build a basic strength session around them.

Another big thing for Mammy...I went in half with her on a bike! She loved to ride as a kid so we ordered a nice one and can enjoy some rides in a few weeks.

Thank You for Your Help

I ran the Country Music Half Marathon this year to help raise money for the Middle TN Autism Society. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for the awesome generosity. I was HUMBLED at the amount of love, emails, and support I got through the process.

Before I share a video message from Chris and I, I want to thank a few people quickly.

Laurie - we've been friends for so long now and it means a lot to me that you have been running with me through everything: weightloss to fundraising. I love you.

Chris and Logan - it was so hot and thanks for walking all the way from 2nd Ave. to see mommy. I know you didn't get to see mommy finish but it meant everything to me that you were there.

Mammy and Lexi - Thanks for coming out and braving the crowds and HUNGER.

All the people along the race route who cheered for me because they read my t-shirt. I would have pictures downloaded but I can't figure out how to get the card out of the fool camera! Basically, 1 in 150 kids has autism. It's time we do something about this so that our kids can get better!

Now, here is a message from Chris and I. Thank you again and over $1000.00 is out today!!!!

YouTube - Thank You for Helping Us Raise Money!

Don't You Hate It When You Are Your Own Worst Critic?

It's natural for girls with weight issues or past issues to just tear ourselves apart. We do it on purpose, unintentionally, when we deserve it, when we don't...it's like a fiber of our being.

It's a habit that doesn't ever go away either. Lately, I have been doing what I call my spring cleaning because stinking thinking re-entered my mind. So many things in my life have moved away from who I am and want to be. I run from here and there and never make progress on what's important in life. This has led to feelings of failure and when I feel like a failure I do what's comfortable; I pick myself apart.

You are too fat.

You will never be as good or fast as the next girl.

Why do you bother? You'll be in last place.

Your body doesn't look like someone who works hard.

You are just going to slow everyone down and be stared at. Why put yourself through it?

It doesn't take long before these mental recordings turn into lifestyle issues. A few BLT's that start off as a taste, turn into an "I deserve it for the hard workout", that turns into 5lbs. At that point I am ashamed and wanting to "live like everyone else" while wanting to look like no one else. It doesn't work that way, and no Corinne, everyone else doesn't eat burgers, fries, and a big dessert everyday. That's called making excuses for not wanting to do the hard work.

This is why at Phit-n-Phat I work so hard with girls on rephrasing and thinking differently. Even though I might not always believe the things I tell myself, I do realize I will NEVER change if my mind doesn't change. It takes making a bad comment, realizing you are saying it, and then just saying something positive or different until it becomes more natural.

Is it going to feel comfortable? No, not at first. It will be weird. You will probably even try to convince yourself you aren't worth the effort of telling yourself nice things. That's just the ole fat girl thinking trying to defeat you.

Here's a comment left in our online forms by a member who is doing her first 5K this weekend. I'm so proud of Jami for reaching this goal. She's going to do great. I also love how the 5K is teaching her more about JAMI than it is about running.

"I have a funny story that just turned my thinking around. I went on a date with my guy and his roommate (meeting the roommate for the first time). I mentioned I was doing a 5K and he just kind of looked at me. He didn't say anything or look at my in a negative way but the Fat Girl in me jumped right in to cut him off.

"I know it's not a marathon and it's only a little over three miles but I've never done one, so it's kinda cool."

He looked at me in awe and said, "Wow, that's a big deal. I have friends that run those races and that's amazing." 

Huh, I'm the only one selling myself short. I've heard Corinne and PNP say it, but it didn't stick. In that moment I realized that I should be proud of anything I do to push myself. I'm proud of myself for sticking to it and trying something outside my comfort zone. I will let you know how the race goes!"

Isn't this just so true? We all do it. We tell people all the time we aren't good enough, I'm still fat even if you think I look good, I don't deserve to eat healthy so I will eat whatever you put in front of me, etc. We just expect that the world is looking for us to fail rather than standing up in the world and saying I'm going to win.

I think for today we all should be winners. Maybe it will feel just good enough to do again tomorrow. :)

May 2nd is PNP Virtual Race Day

Race season is right up on us. It's so exciting because many of my girls are embarking on their first 5K all the way to the first triathlon and half marathon. It's an amazing feeling to help so many women cross finish lines they never dreamed they would.

On May 2nd we are hosting our first PNP Virtual Race Day. So far, we have this many girls doing the following events:

Corinne - Running the Cinco De Mayo 5k

Jeannie and Kathy - Running the Columbus Half Marathon

April Lee - Walking a 5k

Jennifer - Will be in Panama but will do her own event in honor of race day.

JamiH - Mayfest 5k

Jen - Running a 5K

Jane - Half Iron Man!!!!

Becca - Run/Walking a 10K

Michele - Running an 8k Trail Run

Sherri - First 5k!!! National Alliance for Mental Illness

Jill - having her friends come to her house for her own 5K!

Kris - FIRST 5K for Autism!!!

If I missed you, make a comment and let us know you are participating!

  This weekend I'm doing my own first. I am running the Country Music Half Marathon for charity. As many of you know, my amazing son has autism. He was diagnosed one year ago this month. Actually, we were diagnosed on World Autism Day if you can believe it. What a year it has been for my family. This video is Chris telling what the last year has been like for us.

My healthy lifestyle has played a critical role in his year. My healthy diet helped him get much needed nutrients. Exercise gives me the strength, energy, and distraction to deal with autism. Being PHIT has been an important part of the journey for all of us.

I'm asking for the last time that anyone who has used my tips, workouts, stories, pictures, videos, or anything else to donate to my race. Anything is appreciated.

I want to thank so many of you who have already donated. I cried the other day when Chris showed me the amount we've raised. With just a couple of posts we're over $600! I REALLY would love to reach $1000 to give to the Middle TN Autism Society. This post gives you our story along with the link to donate.

Again, thank you so much for all the support everyone gives me. From inspirational emails to support on the site, so many women touch my life everyday. I'm truly blessed.

Best Weightloss Tip EVER!

There is one thing I KNOW that makes all the difference in my ability to keep off 110lbs and help my PNP clients LOSE weight. That is preparing food ahead of time. You...

• Always have something to eat that is quick.
• Know what goes into your food.
• Take the guess work out of your week.
• Save money by not buying pre-packaged items.

This week it looks like this.

I rarely buy any foods already packaged. I take a few minutes and just make my own bags. Saves a ton of money. In fact, this week I only spent $148.00 at the grocery store. Not only did I buy breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks but I also bought detergent, trash bags, and a few other incidentals.

It takes a little time, but I love nothing better than finishing up the week with my whole family's menus ready to go. Mornings are seamless when all I have to do is grab a bag of cheese crackers, 3 fig newtons, almonds, diced strawberries and cantaloupe for Logan's lunch.

On Monday, I send Chris a bag filled with food for the week. I send breakfast, two snacks, and lunch for each day of the week. For myself, I have all of my food pre-made so that I can eat wherever I am. This is what I made this week for myself and I travel with it in my handy-dandy cooler.

Liver and Veggies

This is simple. I take a Ziploc plastic square you can buy anywhere and fill it with 4oz. of broiled liver seasoned with Mrs. Dash Table Blend. I broil it on low for 10 min. of the first side and about 7 min. on the second side. I love liver and it helps with iron levels.

Next, I took one can of small green beans, drained it and put inside and then portioned out 100 grams of carrots. There you go. A healthy lunch or dinner with veggies. By the way, you can eat this in the car easy if you have to. I do it all the time and don't need a fork or knife. Sexy? No, but neither is a cheeseburger and fries on my hips.

 

Grilled Fish and Mushrooms on Hot Slaw

Again, we have the magic of Ziploc. You will see a lot of it. I took some Atlantic Cod and grilled it with some Mrs. Dash. Love that stuff. Measured out a 4.5 oz portion and placed it on top of some semi-hot slaw I made. While the fish was grilling I broiled up some sliced portobella mushrooms with spray butter and salt.

Hot Slaw
1-bag of shredded cabbage slaw
1-bag of broccoli slaw
1/4 cup of Lite Miracle Whip
1/4 cup of Sweet and Spicy Mustard
Few dashes of Texas Pete for kick
Chopped Red Onion to taste
Salt to taste

Mix ingredients and then portion into six equal servings. It's about 120 calories and you get a good amount of veggies in you.

Green Salad with Grilled Mushrooms - 1 tbsp of reduced fat feta cheese, and cherry tomatoes. My green salad always has chopped, fresh cilantro, and red onion in it. I use Balsamic Vinegar for my dressing.

Laura's Lean Burger
I bag it with the bun, ketchup, mustard, and red onion. Keeps all week and still tastes good. I'll have this at lunch with pretzels and/or some fruit.

 

Breakfast #2: Sorry I don't have a fancy name for it. My first workout I eat a Vitamuffin in chocolate with 1 tbsp of peanut butter. Most mornings I am up at 4:30 and doing something for an hour or more by 5:00. I need the quick carbs and fat to keep me going.

This breakfast is what I follow up with when I can't go home and have oatmeal. I simply hard boil and bag two eggs per day, bag up 100-150 grams of fresh fruit and grab a carb master yogurt? Why carbmaster? It's for the protein. I get sugar in the fruit so I sacrifice some sugar in the yogurt for a little more protein.

 

This is simply cut red peppers and grilled fish and I use this as a snack in the afternoons when I'm done with all my workouts. I would eat this as dinner, too, if needed.

This week, a day might look like:

4:20 am - Vitamuffin, 1 tbsp of Peanut Butter
7:00 am - Breakfast #2
10:00 am - Cottage Cheese Smoothie
1:00 pm - Burger, Mushroom Salad with pretzels
3:00 pm (post strength) - Protein Shake and fruit (baggie or apple)
4:00 Grilled Fish and Hot Slaw or Grilled Fish and Red Peppers if I'm out and about
6:30 Liver and Veggies
9:00 Cottage Cheese Smoothie

This rounds out to about 1800-1900 calories depending on how much fruit I use.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Mammy's Update

I'm so proud of Mammy! Here we are at the six or seven week mark and finally she DIDN'T lose weight this week. She didn't get upset about it either. As I have said many times before...

YOU WON'T LOSE WEIGHT EVERY WEEK NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY!

It is just a sign that we need to take it up a notch and change some things. Seriously, it took over SIX WEEKS before we even have to do anything other making a menu of what she likes to eat and simple walking daily.

Her new plan beginning this week consists of the following:

• A daily 30-40 min. walk with her doggie Bubba.
• Twice a week she needs to hit her exercise bike for interval training for 20 minutes or the pool for 30 minutes. She can choose to do with one and I will teach her how to do interval training.
• Twice a DAY she needs to walk for 10 min. with the dog for just movement. This is not a structured walk but just part of being active since her job is very sedentary.
• Once a week strength training in her home.

I will take her to the pool to teach her a nice pool workout that will work her full body. We'll blog it, don't worry folks. I also plan to take her through a home strength workout for a true beginner. We'll video as much as possible to teach you girls at home how to get started if you are on the fence about starting a workout program.

And, here is a picture of Mammy and my niece Lexi at her second 5K event. Aren't they cute???

Here's Mammy's menu for this week:

Breakfast
Egg whites
Pork tenderloin
Cream of Rice
Coffee

Snack
Banana & TB PB

Lunch
Gumbo
Crackers

Snack
Chicken & apple

Supper
Turkey Dog
Whole wheat bun
Salad
Milk

I Want To Be A Man

Men, on the whole, have it easy with weightloss. They lose weight faster than we do, they typically don't tie what they eat to the kind of day they had, and they don't near as much stock in personal appearance as we do. How many of you guys have looked at your wife and said, "Does walking around without a shirt on make me look fat?"

Funny story. Chris sleeps in underwear all the time. Once we went to Vegas with our dear friends Lorie and Bill and shared a room. I love my man, but he's my average looking man and I see him through those hottie goggles. Lorie doesn't borrow my hottie goggles for Chris. Do you think he packed anything to sleep in? Nope. He just figured if his stuff is covered good enough. So what if she sees his belly and hairy chest?

My point isn't if Chris is ready for Chippendales, but for the same trip I carefully chose sleeping attire that would cover my thighs and belly for fear Lorie and Bill would see them! I probably spent more time on that than hoochie clothes.

What I do love about men is that most of them have a black and white affair with food. They want a hamburger and fries that's what they get. No thoughts of, "will the scale be up tomorrow, will it make me bloat, what will everyone think, and this will make me forget what Arnold said to me in that meeting this afternoon. Arnold, he's a real jerk who is out to get me."

Guys eat. They want to lose weight they just eat on a plan. They don't care they just eat what they want. Mostly, even the ones that need to be in better shape, don't go through the daily torture of being miserable with themselves.

I've watched and listened to Chris through my whole weightloss journey. For a man who's rarely ever dieted, just bought a home delivery service to lose weight not caring if he even liked the food...he's wise. He says make a plan and then do it. Set reasonable goals and appreciate them when you reach them. Think more about success and less about failure. It's no wonder he's such a success in life...he just expects whatever is important to him he can do it.

I like that. Even with all my successes I am full of self doubt. I still blurt out, "I'm so fat. How do you even look at me?" Blah, blah, blah. The old Corinne would walk around naked to look like me. This Corinne can't turn off the old dialogue long enough to appreciate where she is at.

I've thought about that a lot lately. I didn't do this pity talk for a long time and now I'm back to my old stinking thinking habits. Will I be able to accomplish Project Phabulous thinking like a 250lb girl? Probably not.

It's time to man up, I suppose. Time to think like a champ so that I can eat like a champ and then appreciate looking like one. I've always said that my attitude is what makes me successful and since being a little trimmer than I am today is what is important I have to believe and talk like the person who is well on her way.

Fake it til you make it. Project Phabulous continues...

Project Phabulous

I've noticed something about myself and my husband the last few weeks. We love to have a date night, go out, drink, club a little, and then end the night with a dessert or something sinful. We started this about 6-8 months ago when I wrapped up figure.

See, while training for figure, I got one cheat meal a week because the whole week I was on a low calorie, strict, all meat and veggie diet with tons of cardio and strength training. My body NEEDED a cheat meal. Not only did my brain just need an evening to relax but my metabolism needed a boost. I would go into that meal in a half coma from carb depletion.

A lot of diets subscribe to the cheat, metabolic boost, or splurge meal theory. Lots of my girls do it. I've been really pondering it and wondering...why? Is it really a help or hindrance?

When I lost my weight, the 110 lbs of fat that made me the Queen, I didn't do cheat meals. My homemade pre-certification training program was loosely based like this:

• Strength train 2-3 times a week. I did full body and sometimes upper/lower split.
• Cardio 6 days a week and sometimes 7 with a light day. (I did triathlons and running 10Ks and such back then so I got a lot of fun cardio in.)
• I ate a calorie deficit of about 1500-1700 calories a day or 30 pts a day on Weight Watchers.
• I didn't track macros...honestly I didn't know what they were back then.
• I did eat three meals a day, 2-3 snacks a day and always had a bedtime snack.
• Most week's we ate out 2-3 times and I would always eat a healthy meal with one indulgence. Never dessert. It would be like mashed potatoes with grilled fish, fries with grilled chicken, etc. Something small and if dessert was in play it was only frozen yogurt and child's portion.

I'm telling everyone this because that's what worked for me to get in good shape. Was I ripped and cut? No. I was in good shape and proud of my body.

These days I'm about 5-8 lbs. heavier than I want to be. Granted this is the same weight I was before competing, but I saw a slightly smaller version of me I did like. What has changed? Cheat meals or cheat nights.

Honestly, when you are eating a well balanced diet filled with healthful foods and such do you really need that cheat meal? Probably not. Most of us will do better with a small treat here and there and staying consistent. Doesn't mean we can't ever have a night out, of course, but when you are losing weight the best thing you can do for yourself is to practice a lifestyle you need to lead. That means just making solid choices frequently versus depriving yourself all week in giddy excitement over one night of free for all.

For some of us it's ice cream. If you love ice cream, switch to a lower sugar version and allow yourself a good serving once every 2-3 times you stick to exercise and your food plan. Have a slight indulgence more frequently as long as you do the work to deserve it.

My own diet and one that I hope my average weightloss client follows is one that keeps the metabolism firing. It shouldn't need a big poke each week. Your brain might need a little release and that's fine. Here's what I plan to change and see what happens on the scale.

Enjoy two glasses of wine on Saturday night with Chris on dates versus a bottle. If I'm having wine, we don't eat crazy. We have a nice dinner.

Make sacrifices at our date night meal. Like if I'm going to Mexican I will skip chips for some cheese or drop cheese, sour cream, and guac for some cheese. There are tons of changes you can make to your meals that won't make you suffer but allow you to enjoy yourself.

Since Chris and I have both seen not so great things happen to our physiques with these all out splurges, we're tightening up the belts. We'll still have our vacations to let loose. For me, to be happy, I have to like what I see and right now I look OK. I want to look PHABULOUS! I'll keep you posted on Project Phabulous.