Tasty Tuesdays: Strawberry Shortcake

This tasty fruit dessert is a great light end to any meal.

Ingredients:

- package of prepared mini angel food cakes
- 1 package of frozen strawberries
- honey
- fresh fruit: pears, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries
- Cool Whip

Directions:

place entire package of frozen strawberries in a large saucepan. Cook on low heat, covered until strawberries are thawed
Add honey to taste to the mixture and stir continuously until thickened
Top Angel Food cakes with portion of sauce
Top with sliced fresh fruit and then Cool Whip

Serve and Enjoy!

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A Long Awaited Update

Well, perhaps not long-awaited, but whatever…an update nonetheless.

 

In the last couple of months, Dave and I have continued with our trainers at Goodlife. He is seeing quite a bit of progress in that he is gaining muscle and strength. I, on the other hand, have not. There was the weight loss that occurred when I first switched trainers, but I haven’t really seen any since. I am improving in other areas, better endurance, strength, etc., but I think we all know that the main thing I want to get out of all of this is weight loss. And since the majority of people who hear this ask, no I haven’t seen much (if any) decrease in inches either.

My trainer has been looking over my food logs since I started with him, and recommended I stop eating dairy. So I did. It was hard at first since I love cheese and milk, but I have adjusted and don’t notice that often. I still consume probably about a cup or so of some sort of milk product throughout each week, but that is pretty much it. He also recommended I start with the nutritionist at Goodlife. For a while I said no as I wasn’t entirely happy with the progress I had seen thus far with the rest of the resources at the gym, but have since decided to give it a try.

I met with her last Tuesday and have my second session this coming Tuesday. So far we have just gone over the basics of the program and this coming session we will be setting up some sort of plan. To be honest, I don’t know what to expect. My hopes have been shot down so many times it is hard to get them raised even remotely right now. I have not resigned myself to being overweight for the rest of  my life, I am just not as hopeful as I once was.

Sorry to leave things on such a bummer note, I just don’t have much else to say right now. Hopefully things will turn around now that I have an entire team behind me.

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Back in the Swing of Things

Dave and I have had personal trainers for a while now and though there have been improvements, I am not seeing the changes I need to be seeing to keep a positive outlook on the whole thing. That being said, I have since changed trainers and though at first I was a little apprehensive about my new training as I don’t like change, it is turning out to be a good thing. I have already started to lose weight more rapidly and consistently than with the previous trainer. I also feel like I am getting more out of my training sessions in that I am more tired and sore afterwards (in that good I just worked out sort of way).
But because of the length of time it took to get a point where I am starting to lose weight consistently, etc, I am going to have to rework my wedding weight loss plans. This is very upsetting to me and I feel like a complete failure if I think about it too much, but with only a year left until our wedding day (and probably about 2 months less than that until I get a wedding dress), there just isn’t enough time to get to my ideal weight or even the first reasonable weight goal I had set out for myself.
It is probably just best to set a new goal for myself and start moving towards it and not think about what could have been. Though this is very hard for me, it will be what I try to do over the next little while.

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Not as Expected

So over the last little while I have been watching what I eat (about 90% of the time) and of course, going to the gym to work out with my trainer. I have not however, seen much success in terms of weight loss. The scale and I are just not in agreement of what is good enough to get these pounds off. I have lost a few pounds I suppose, but nothing significant and definitely nothing consistent. I have however, noticed that I am much stronger – which though I will admit is a very good thing, it is not helping me look better which means I don’t really feel any better about myself. I essentially have a year left until I want to start looking at wedding dresses and just a little longer than that until I have to walk down the aisle. Though these two things are definitely not my only reason to lose weight, they are to driving points that make me want to get it done now. I don’t want a plus size dress – I don’t want to be ashamed of my wedding photos. Time to tighten the belt metaphorically so I can do it literally later on.

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Personal Trainer

About a month and a half ago, Dave and I signed up for personal trainers. I think I mentioned that we signed up at one of the many local Goodlife Fitness gyms and that we registered for the introductory peronsal trainers, but we have since signed up with them longer term (or at least, longer term). Right now our sessions will last until the end of November if we leave them at twice a week. We are thinking of bumping it up to three times a week but that will only happen if after a review of our finances, post-closing fees (house is coming in TWO days!) we are able to afford a longer contract at the three times a week frequency.

We have however, decided that personal trainers was definitely the way to go for us. After about 4 or 5 sessions both of us admitted that we would have stopped going if we didn't have a contract, a great deal of money invested in this and someone waiting for us at the gym with an appointment we can't really cancel at the last minute (not without a good reason at least). We also both really like our trainers and their individual approaches to our fitness. For those of you who know Dave and I personnally, you will already know that we are in two different categories in terms of fitness levels and what we are trying to get our of the gym. Dave is tall and pretty skinny, he has a high metabolism and before we started slacking in the last couple of years, he was pretty active. I on the other hand, am average height but overweight and have pretty much always been a non-active person. While my main goal for my personal trainer is to lose weight, his is to gain strength.

I will have to sit down sometime and give a proper review of how things are progressing and my trainer's regime to get me fit, but for now, I just wanted to say that if you are at all considering personal training to lose weight or reach any other of your personal fitness goals, do it. Sit down with a trainer and determine a schedule and payment plan that fits into your finances - our trainers were really accomodating and did everything they could to get us something that worked with our finances. We normally don't have issues with money, but considering the new house, wedding and photography business, we were a little worried about getting in over our heads and our trainers understood. It was really great. (my apologies if this isn't the best worded blog post, I am a little strapped for time these days and wasn't able to review it).

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