Pina Colada Cake

I got this recipe (and borrowed the picture) from Eat Better America. It is SO good, and oh so easy! I mean it only has 4 ingredients! How cool is that?

1 package (14 1/2 oz) angel food cake mix
1 can (8 oz) unsweetened crushed pineapple
8 oz fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed
1/2 cup (2 oz) toasted coconut




1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In large bowl, stir together cake mix and pineapple. Pour into prepared baking dish.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool completely on a rack.
4. Spread whipped topping over cake. Sprinkle with coconut. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.



For nutritional info (and believe me you'll be impressed) please visit Eat Better America.

Mind Games

I can't believe how many people still stop me to ask how I got skinny.

The easy answer?

Eat healthy and exercise.

Do people really want to hear that?

Um, no. They don't.

You can actually see the disappointment on their faces.

Yet, that is what I did. I went from this -

To sorta kinda like this -

In less than a year.

By eating healthy and exercising.

Because I was focused. Very, very focused.

It's mind over matter in this weight loss struggle that you're in.

Half the battle is in your head.

Here are a few of the mind games I played with myself to keep my head in the weight loss war.

First I made myself a Motivation Poster. I cut out pictures of skinny chicks in bikinis, pictures of hotties in super cute jeans, pictures of myself skinny, and pictures of myself as a fattie. I pinned it to the wall right next to my elliptical. So that whenever I felt like giving up halfway through my workout I would look up at those super cute jeans on my poster and force myself to finish exercising.

I also posted a few extra bikini pics in the kitchen. One on the fridge, on the snack cupboard.... that way whenever I went into the kitchen I was reminded what my goal was. Sure, a few of my husbands friends thought it was odd that there were pictures of bikini clad girls all over the house.... but it worked for me! (And I'm sure it didn't bother them all that much.)

Then I bought myself some Motivational Jeans. I would wait until there were some cute ones on sale and then I would buy them 2 sizes smaller than what I was currently wearing. I would hang them at the very front of my closet where I would see them everyday. When the day came that those jeans actually fit......euphoric. And then when those jeans would actually get to where they were to big, A-mazing. There's no better motivation for me than buying new jeans.

When I overhauled my life I didn't have a blog. I didn't have a Twitter account either. All I had was my Facebook page and my MySpace page. Every morning I would update my status with "I'm going to workout today!", or "I'm going to make this super yummy healthy breakfast today!", or some other crap about being healthy and exercising. Just the simple fact of telling everyone I knew that I was going to workout, that I was going to eat healthy, that I had a goal of losing weight, kept me on the straight and narrow. If I told all my friends and family that I was going to workout, well then I better go workout! I didn't want to be a liar. I created my own Peer Pressure, and it worked!

Another tactic that I used against my ever struggling willpower - Keep in mind just how long you will have to workout to work off that piece of cake, or slice of pizza, or candy bar. Is the pizza really worth an extra 20 to 30 minutes on the elliptical? If it is - go for it! If not, maybe Lean Cuisine will have a better option for you. I know a lot of people don't like this 'game' of working out longer because you ate something full of fat and calories. You know who they are? People who are already skinny that's who. I like keeping track, that way I know exactly how long I need to workout and there are no surprises.

I hope some of these tips will work for you! It sure won't hurt to try!

Here's a link to a post I wrote awhile back with some other helpful tips.

Do you have any mind games that have been working for you? Please let me know in the comments! I look forward to learning what you guys have been doing.

~Stephanie at The Blue Zoo~

Sweat N Swap

ARE YOU MOTIVATED?

MOTIVATED MOTIVATED DOWN RIGHT MOTIVATED

WHOOO

HAAAA

WE'RE GONNA ROCK SOMEBODY

SAY - YOU CHECK US OUT

YOU CHECK US OUT

YOU CHECK US OUT

oooOOOOOOOOOH

WE'RE LOCKED AND COCKED AND READY TO ROCK DRILL SERGEANT!

Howdy Losers! How's it hanging? Are you hanging? It is awesomely motivating to see how many pounds are falling off you all. That HAS to feel good.

Are you getting bored with your workouts? Dragging your feet at popping in that DVD? Too predicable? That happens...sometimes we hit a plateau and need to switch things up to jump start ourselves again (or just buy a DVD we end up not liking).

I had an idea. I don't have all the details worked out yet but I thought I would run it by the LIB followers and see what you think about it. I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in doing a Sweat N Swap...by that I mean exchange workout videos with other LIB followers. The only cost involved would be the shipping and really that would be minimal. Those small bubbly envelopes at WallyWorld are usually less than a dollar and the shipping of  said envelope with a DVD would surely be $2 or less, unless you're in Japan or something. So for a miniscule investment we could swap around our workout videos that we've become complacent with.

I'm leaning towards just starting a section in the side bar with emails of those who have videos they would like to trade. I'm not very technical so I'm not quite sure the best way to link the video holder up with the video wanter....I'm still hammering those ideas out. Since my brain is still suffering the effects of a failed Cootie shot (which means that I've been ill for about 12 days now), I thought it best to knock put some other heads together on this. Surely there are some smurt cookies out thar!

Whatcha think?

Interested?

Stupid Idea?

Cool but not really practical??

Lay it on me - I can take it...I am a duck afterall...

Getting The Train Back On The Track

I know, you're all asking the same question.....what have you done for me lately? Absolutely nothing if posting frequency is any indication.

We're still here, life seems to be getting in the way. Stephanie's been off romping at Blissdom'10, That One Mom was ..... hey woman what have you been up to?!?! Daffy is dealing with sickness, Zgirl...well what can we say about Zgirl. She's had her life turned upside down in a totally awesome way. If you haven't heard her news, stop by her blog and wish her well. I...well I'm just lazy.

So choo choo. In order to get the train back on the track I'd like to do a 6 week check in. Can you believe we've been at this for six weeks?!?! It seems like years....kidding. I (and all the other beotches) want to know how your doing. So I want each of you to send me an email, tell me how much you've lost so far and your best moment to date in the LIB challenge. I know you could put it in the comments and I know you have been very diligent about posting your weekly updates (ahem... consider this a gentle kick in the butt for those that haven't been quite so diligent). I'm then going to do a post listing ALLLL our successes to date. I have a three day weekend coming up and need something to do, right?

I'll tell you mine right now. Up until last night I've been doing the whole walk for 2 minutes run for 2 minutes. I ran for 15 minutes straight last night. It was an incredible feeling. If we could bottle that feeling of accomplishment and sell it on ebay we'd all be rich.

Let's make this a bit fun shall we? I have a $20 Chapters card for whoever has lost the highest % of weight to date. No, I don't want pics of your scales to prove it. I'm going to take you at your word. Just know...if you lie to me...I'll know. Mothers have eyes in the back of their head ya know. To figure out your percent divide the pounds lost by your beginning weight. So if you weighed 200 pounds and you've lost 10 the answer will be 0.05 which is 5%. Mad math skillz...I know.


So hop to it! Email addy is dualmomatgmaildotcom (why do people write out there email addresses like that in blogland?)

One more thing, I'm incredibly proud of all of you. Four months ago I never thought it would be possible to be so proud of a bunch of people I've never "met". I'm proud of you for caring enough about yourselves to take on this challenge to get healthy. For caring so much about each other to offer an amazing level of support and encouragement to your fellow bloggers. I read the comments each of you leaves when someone posts an update, and it fills my heart knowing there are so many kind, strong, beautiful people in the world. For that I thank you.

So kuddos to you.

DM

Fitness and Flexibility

We've all heard the drill, stretch before and after exercising. If you're anything like me, you generally don't listen to people that are smarter than you and know what they're talking about. Call it stubbornness, stupidity, laziness, whatever. When I was running on a regular basis, back in the day when I was a skinny bitch, I can count on one hand the number of times I actually stretched before a run. I would go balls out during the workout and then just want to drag my butt home before the sore muscles set in. BAD Dual Mom. Surprisingly enough I never did serious injury to myself. I was lucky. I'm a few years older and wiser now and I try to do a few stretches before each session at the gym, if nothing else I stretch out my hamstrings.

36% of your body mass is made up of skeletal muscle, the percentage is a bit higher for men. These muscles are what allow us to walk, run, run our mouth off, pick up our kids and hug them, drive our cars. Any motion, and non motion for that matter, involves the use of muscle. There are approximately 639 skeletal muscles in the human body.

Did you know that bears are the only mammals in the world that can go for prolonged periods of time (hibernation) without losing muscle mass and having their muscles atrophy? The rest of us....yeah use it or lose it as the saying goes. The layer of muscle inside a woman's uterus is the strongest muscle in the body. The heart obviously performs more work over an average life span than any other muscle in the body.

Ok, enough riveting facts about muscles. The point here is that our muscles are important and we seldom give credit where credit is due. Stretching before and after a workout is uber important. Taking a few minutes to stretch and warm up your muscles before beginning exercise releases a lubricating substance from the cartilage within the joints, which aids the fluid motion of muscles and also keeps bones from scraping against one another at connection points in the body. Lubricated and fluid moving muscles have more flexibility which reduces your chances of injuring them.

There are some great resources on the web that will list some basic stretches everyone should do, webmd.com is one of my favorites. Mayoclinic.com also offers some great basic stretches you can do before and after a workout. Both are reputable sites that know there stuff. As for the benefits of stretching, one of the best workouts I've had over the past five weeks is after a yoga class. It literally feels as though your body is fluid. If you have never tried a yoga class before, I strongly encourage you to check it out. Ensure it's a beginner class (advanced yoga scares the crap out of me) with an experienced instructor. You'll thank me for it later.