What We've Been Up To

We've had cold, rainy weather the past two days and a rainy week predicted for us...I am loving it! After a summer of absolutely no rain, I'm soaking up all the wet days we can get :) Mikko is laying on the ground next to me (well, really half on top of me) while I type this keeping me warm, so I'm going to do a bit of an update on us!

- Will is completely potty trained! He has been for a little over a month now and it's so nice. He's almost 100% at night too - he does have nighttime accidents every other week or so, but usually wakes up once to go potty. Potty training him couldn't have been easier. We followed the Three Day Potty Training method and he was fully potty trained by the end of it. I really think that a) he was just ready and b) he's an easy going kid in general, but I am so, so proud of him!

-  We're also coming off of almost a month's worth of sickness for the little guy. It started with a super high fever and sore throat, which even though it looked like it, tested negative for strep. A few days later, he started throwing up. A few days later, he got a rash on his trunk, hands, and feet (not hand, foot, and mouth); a few days later developed hugely swollen glands on the sides of his neck, and most recently, the skin of his palms/feet has started peeling off in large sheets. We're not entirely sure what he has, despite having been to the doctor every single week (or multiple times a week) over the past month. It's been narrowed down to Kawasaki Disease, Scarlet Fever, or a bunch of random viruses he keeps catching. The good news is that he isn't contagious and the peeling skin should be the last 'symptom' he develops if he has either Kawasaki or Scarlet Fever. I've kind of felt like putting him in a bubble for the past month, so I really hope he's on the mend.

- Will started swim lessons at Aqua-tots on Friday. I bought a Groupon a few weeks back for half off of a month's worth of lessons and have been really excited for him to start. I couldn't have been happier with the program - I even signed up for another month of lessons before we left. Will was very apprehensive about the whole thing at the beginning (at one point he was screaming/crying: "This is NOT fun!" hahaha!), but by the end he was having a great time and even started crying when we had to leave. I'm excited to get him started in something that pushes him a little outside of his comfort zone...I think it'll be great for him!

- Greg finished his first report for work and is well into his second report. He'll go to Germany again later this spring and he is absolutely loving the company he's working for. I am so glad that he is excited about what he's doing! I also love how flexible his schedule is. Though he has to work late a lot, he's also able to take off or go in late whenever needed. He had a doctor's appointment on Friday afternoon, so he was home around 3:30, which was so nice! He and Will played all afternoon while I got some uninterrupted time to work.

- My business is booming. I can't even begin to comprehend how much God has blessed me! I made the decision this year to keep Sundays as family/rest days and it's working out so well. I no longer feel like the weekend comes and goes without me seeing my family at all. I am completely booked through May with a few openings left in June/July and already have people contacting me about fall sessions. The relief of knowing that I have sessions on the books and knowing that there will be money coming in through the summer is indescribable and so, so different from last year. I know God has a purpose for everything and even my slow months early last year when we weren't sure where we were going to come up for the money to buy groceries had a HUGE purpose in us being where we are today. But man, I'm so glad we're not reliving those stressful days now! :)

- Working out is going great for me. I don't really have a set goal in mind right now, other than to be as healthy and strong as I can be, and it's enjoyable and relaxing. I started following a Paleo diet in January and was VERY strict for the entire month of January. I've since relaxed some (and lately with all Will's sickness, quite a bit), but I feel good! Greg is even jumping on board with me for the first time this week and I think in the near future we're going to try to move Will that direction as well, though I won't eliminate grains and dairy from his diet entirely...I just hope they can take a backseat to the much more nutritious veggies, meats, fats, and fruit. He's going to be a hard one, I think! :)

Whew, I think that's about it! And because it's never okay to post without a picture, here's one from my P25 files (P52 is my version of Project 52. I am taking a photo a week with my "nice" camera and will make a photo book at the end of the year) :)

click to enlarge! :)

Consistency

I found this quote on Pinterest this morning and it really resonated with me. Consistency has been the key to my weight loss/health journey. Consistency even when I'm not seeing results. Consistently going to the gym, even on the days where I feel like sleeping in. Consistently putting the right foods in my body. And consistently getting back on track when I slip up. To reach the next set of goals that I have for myself, I feel like I have to become even more consistent and intentional with the things I do each day...so to do that, I've decided to commit the next 100 days (until February 7, 2012, if I did the math right!) to consistently...

• Eating my planned meals every single day
• Eating one (planned!) cheat meal every week
• Getting to the gym 6 days a week - lifting for 5 of those days
• Cutting out all artificial sweeteners, even at cheat meals
• Cooking all my food for the week on Sundays
• Getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night 

To be honest, most of those things I do pretty consistently. Except for the last one - I suck at making myself get to bed in time. But writing them down and committing myself to them as goals for the next 100 days helps me for some reason. Because I'm human - there are days where I just don't feel like eating chicken and broccoli at 10:00 in the morning and there are days where I don't feel like turning off the tv or getting off the computer at 8:00 at night so I can be asleep by 8:30pm...in fact on the days where I do get myself in bed at that time (which is roughly the same time Will goes to bed) I feel pretty lame.

But I realize that in order to do what I've decided I want to do, I must do these things and I must do them consistently. Every single day, whether I want to or not. Wish me luck!

(for those of you who only come here for the cute pictures, don't worry, I've got a ton from this week and they're coming to a blog near you later today!)

Random

Things on my mind tonight...

- I have 14 sessions this weekend. FOURTEEN. Who does that to themselves? Me, that's who. I swore to Greg tonight in the car that I'd never, ever, ever book 14 sessions again in a weekend. Who cares if 10 of them are mini sessions...that's still a whole lotta sessions!

- Cardio on no carbs at 10:00 in the morning when you need to eat again at 11:00 SUCKS. Oh my gosh, does it suck so much. I thought I was going to have to crawl out to my car!

- PCS is no joke. I took Will to a Halloween Party/fundraiser where an awesome local photog was taking pictures of all the kiddos in their costumes. I told her Will had a serious case of Photographer's Child Syndrome. She said she was up for the challenge...I think we got a good crying picture ;) At least he had fun with the party activities and the playscape!

- Stinker loves him some Dinosaur Train. I love me some PBS for 30 minutes to clean the kitchen, answer emails, and what have you!

 - I'm not sure having a cheat meal is worth it. We went out for Mexican tonight and I ate a ton of chips and salsa and about 1/2 of the chicken and guacamole from my fajitas. And I feel miserable now. Like I wish I could rewind time and not eat the chips and salsa and have my fish and spinach instead. I think from here on out, my cheat meal each week is going to be more of a small treat - a cookie or a piece of pumpkin bread...my body just can't handle it!

- Speaking of diet, this week was a lot easier on me mentally. Maybe I'm getting used to it? Or maybe it's going to be horrible again next week. Who knows! I've also been TIRED lately. Like right now...it's 9pm. I slept until 8am this morning and went to bed at 9pm last night. And I feel like I could sleep for hours. Ashley says the fatigue is normal. Normal or not, it sucks almost as much as my cardio did this morning!

- Matt comes home tonight! Actually, he's probably already here!! I can't tell you how excited I am to see my brother, hopefully workout with him once or twice, and hear all his stories first-hand. You don't realize just how much you love your family until they move across the country (*ahem* and never return your calls *ahem*) ;)

- We still haven't made it to a pumpkin patch, but I'm bound and determined to by the end of next weekend. We can't miss it again this year! We attempted to go with friends on Thursday, but we'll just leave it at that didn't work out so well...instead, we hit up the bouncy house in Cedar Park. And hammed it up for the camera (gasp!) just a tiny bit...

(sorry for the horrid white balance on these. taking photos in a neon colored tunnel with flash is not friendly!)



I'll be back to update in, oh, 5 years. You know, when I crawl out from under the pile of editing that is to be done ;) Kidding...kind of!

Meal Planning...Wednesday?

I was told recently that my weekly meal plans were missed...well, there's a reason I haven't been posting them. They haven't been all that interesting and are pretty much the same thing day in and day out...and will be for quite a while! I'm training for something that requires me to eat pretty perfectly, except for one cheat meal a week. I got pretty hardcore about it this past week and am already seeing the type of results I want, even if I am dreaming about food nightly and had to force myself to choke down cauliflower and chicken at 9am this morning ;) It will SO be worth it in the end; I just have to make it through to that point first!

That being said, here's what I'm eating this week...

5:00am - 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, zucchini, 1 oz. almonds
7:30ish (post-workout) - 4 oz. chicken, 6 oz. green beans, banana
9:30am - 4 oz. ground turkey, 6 oz. cauliflower, 1/4 c. couscous
12:30pm - 4 oz. chicken, 6 oz. broccoli, small sweet potato, apple
3:30pm - 4 oz. ground turkey, 6 oz. asparagus, 1/4 c. bulgur wheat
6:30pm - 4 oz. salmon, 4 oz. baby spinach, 2 T. balsamic vinaigrette, grapefruit

I've been getting crazy hungry before bed, so I've been having another serving of protein and veggies...I probably going to start subbing that with a chocolate protein shake because there's only so many times one can eat chicken in a day ;) The times of my meals vary a little bit depending on what time I wake up in the morning, sometimes I'll switch my veggies around, and this morning I was craving almond butter, so I had that instead of almonds. But this is it pretty much.

Exciting, right? ;)

"The Jungle Place"

Safari Champ, or "The Jungle Place" as Will calls it, has quickly become one of our most frequented play places. He absolutely LOVES going and climbing, jumping, and sliding and will stay there for hours. He likes it the most if I go up and play with him, but if we're on a playdate, he'll gladly play with his friends by himself.

Today we met up with my friend Christina and her little girl Kate, who is just a few months younger than Will. He and Kate had so much fun together! We also ran into a friend I haven't seen in awhile, so it was great to  catch up with everyone. Christina and Kate had to leave a little early to get lunch, so Will and I played for another hour or so and I had so much fun with him! He's still too scared to slide down any of the slides by himself, but he will sit on one slide while I sit on the slide next to it and hold his hand on the way down. I honestly haven't had that much fun playing with him in awhile - it was so great to forget about everything and just enjoy my two-year-old and see things the way he does for awhile :) In fact, I was having so much fun that I didn't take one single picture - my phone stayed in my bag pretty much the entire time! So instead here are some (horrible) iPhone pictures from when we were there last week.

Afterward, we grabbed some lunch and headed over to Lamb's to get our oil changed. Will was great and I was really proud of how well-behaved he was, especially since it was well past his naptime. Me on the otherhand? Not so much. I ate so much not-on-plan food and I feel really gross now. That was definitely my cheat meal for the week and I do not feel good about it, because it was unplanned and a little of this, little of that. I'm still not really sure why I caved - I'd run out of my packed food, but I wasn't starving or anything. "One bite" just escalated into eating a bunch of Will's leftover food, a few handfuls of M&Ms and some sugary coffee. Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day!!

Meal Plan Monday

I had my meals all completely planned, but after discussing them with Ashley, I'm making some minor tweaks. I have some very lofty fitness goals (ones that I'm not quite ready to go public with), which are going to require very strict, clean eating for the next several months. I'm SO on board and ready to get the show on the road :) So here's what I'm eating this week!

Meal 1 (pre-workout): 2 eggs + 2 egg whites, 1/2 c. oatmeal (steel cut), banana
Meal 2 (post-workout): Pumpkin Protein Pancakes (these are insanely delicious!)
Meal 3: 6 oz. chicken, small sweet potato, broccoli
Meal 4: 6 oz. ground turkey, 1/4 c. brown rice, bell pepper/onions, 1 c. strawberries
Meal 5: 6 oz. chicken, 1/4 c. brown rice, steamed green beans
Meal 6: 6 oz. salmon, LOTS of baby spinach, 1 T. balsamic vinaigrette, apple

Not much variety, but thankfully I don't require too much. This also isn't a huge change from what I'm already eating - more calories, more protein, and bigger portions of veggies...but more or less the same. Workouts are getting more intense (which I LOVE) and I can almost do a chin up without having to jump to start it! Exciting stuff, people! :)

Inner Struggle

This morning, I had a battle with my mind. It's been a crazy week - evenings haven't been normal because we're looking to buy a second car (yay!) and either just Greg or all three of us have been out car shopping every night. My diet hasn't been as clean as I'd like it to be and my head is just all over the place right now. I feel a little out of control and I really don't like it...I like to be in control of everything, but especially my mind and body. Yeah, I'm a little type-A! I was crazy sore after my workout Monday, skipped my workout yesterday because I was still so sore and just wanted to do nothing but sleep this morning.

The alarm went off at 4:15am and I'm pretty sure I actually groaned. That's so not me. I *love* my daily workouts. I love getting my workout completed before most people are even out of bed for the day...it's just the way I roll! But this morning it took every ounce of inner strength to swing my feet over the edge of the bed, brush my teeth, drag a brush through my hair, and jump in the car to get to the gym. I hated it for the first 10 minutes of intervals on the treadmill, did some ab-work, chatted with Ashley for a bit while on the stair master, hated it for the next 10 minutes while doing intervals on the spin bike, did some ab-work and left. It just wasn't my day apparently! But no matter what, I'm glad I got out of bed and went. Because there was a day in the not so distant past where I would have let my mood dictate what I did that day in regards to workouts and eating. I'm not that person anymore. I refuse to ever be that person again. No matter how out of control my world feels, eating clean and working out hard will always be a constant in my life.

"There is no finish line. It's a continuous journey and I'm always looking to push my limits."

Author unknown

This is me now. This is who I am and I won't change. I may have a bad day. A bad week. A bad month. But it's part of the journey. This is why I love eating clean - it's not a diet for me. And if I fall off the wagon, I can hop back on with no guilt. I love working out so hard that sweat burns my eyes. I get so many people who ask me what I'm training for...nothing! I'm training for me. I'm training to so I can do 6 pull-ups in a row for me. I'm training so I can do things that scare me. Even if I struggle with getting out of bed in the morning or hit the snooze button on my alarm three times in a row, I won't give up and I won't quit. Because this is my life; my journey. And I am going to be the fittest person I can be.

Meal Planning and Prepping

Today has been a busy, but fantastic day. I started it out bright and early with a Sweet Session (ice cream sessions, if you're not in the loop! ;)), then we took Mikko to the dog park - more on that in another post later. When we came home, I spent an hour meal planning and making a grocery list and then headed to HEB. I hate fighting the crowd on Saturday, but it's the best time for me to shop. I like having Sunday to myself with my family - the way it should be! I came home and we got the groceries put away and I started prepping my meals for the week.

I've had a couple people ask me about meal prepping - what it is and why I do it. Basically, I set aside one afternoon a week (usually on Sunday) and I prep all of my cooked meals, portion into Tupperware containers, and stick them in the fridge. Since I eat the same thing every day for a week, it's not difficult to do and just takes some time. Why do I prep? I mean, I'm a work at home mom - it's not like I need to have food cooked to take to an office or something. I prep because it makes it easy for me to stick to what I've planned. There are many days a week where I get lunch ready for Will and I just want to grab something quick and easy. If I don't have a healthy meal already cooked, 9 times out of 10 I'm eating his leftover macaroni and cheese, grabbing a bowl of cereal, or snacking on Will's crackers...none of which have a regular place in my diet!

I actually really enjoy this time in the kitchen (unless, like today, I burn myself TWICE!). And I love the result after...neat little stacks of Tupperware lined up in the fridge, ready for me to eat them this week! And this is what's in them for this week:

M1 (preworkout): Eat-Clean Breakfast Burrito
M2 (post workout): Protein Shake, Banana
M3: Power Oatmeal Pancakes (2), 1 c. strawberries
M4: 4 oz. ground turkey breast seasoned with homemade taco seasoning and mixed with 1 sauteed red bell  pepper; apple
M5: 4 oz. chicken breast, 2 c. steamed/roasted veggies (I'm doing broccoli, squash, & onions), 1/2 small avocado
M6: 4 egg whites, 2 c. spinach, 1 T. balsamic vinaigrette, peach
M7: Greek Yogurt (my "dessert!")

The Eat-Clean Burritos and Power Oatmeal Pancakes both come from Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Cookbook...I *love* that cookbook (and all of her books, to be honest) and haven't made anything out of it that I don't like!

Eat-Clean Breakfast Burritos
Nutritonal Info: Makes 4 burritos; 198 calories; 4g fat; 20g carbs; 19g protein
2 c. egg whites
1/2 c. nonfat cottage cheese
1/2 c. chopped tomatoes
1/2 c. chopped red or green sweet pepper
1/2 c. chopped sweet onion
1/2 c. black beans, rinsed & well drained then mashed coarsely with a fork
4 small Ezekiel grain or other whole-grain tortillas/wraps
Sea salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 250*F. Place tortillas in oven to warm while preparing remaining ingredients.
2. In a small bowl whisk egg whites, cottage cheese, salt & pepper.
3. In a medium skillet coated with cooking spray, saute vegetables and beans until soft. Pour the egg/cottage cheese mixture over vegetables and cook until mixture sets. Once firm, divide egg mixture among the warmed tortillas. Roll each into a burrito. Garnish with salsa.
4. Roll left-overs in foil and refrigerate. Great cold!

Power Oatmeal Pancakes
Nutritional Information: Makes 6 pancakes - 2 pancakes/serving; 283 calories; 10.5g fat; 24g carbs; 21g protein6 egg whites, beaten until fluffy
1/2 c. low-fat cottage cheese
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 c. oatmeal, uncooked
1/4 c. wheat germ
1/4 c. flax seed
1 tsp. baking powder
1 T. canola oil
1/2 t. cinnamon

1. Place all ingredients except beaten egg whites in a food processor and pulse or blend until mixture is uniform.
2. Pour blended ingredients into a bowl and add the egg whites. Fold until just blended.
3. Prepare a griddle with cooking spray. Ladle pancake mixture onto griddle and cook until both sides are browned.
4. Skip the syrup and top with fresh fruit, a dollop of unsweetened apple sauce, or fruit syrup (1/2 c. berries + 1 T. water - mash berries & bring to a boil. When fruit is uniformly hot and begins to get syrupy, remove from heat)

Meal Plans

I attempted to keep it super clean this week so I could hit a major goal of mine. Since it's Thursday evening and I'm backdating this post to Monday, most of the week has now gone by. I can safely say that I'm not going to hit that major goal. I'm okay with it, I'll move forward and go after it next week. I have definitely I learned a few things this week...

#1 - In order to function like a normal human being, I need to have two servings of starchy carbs a day. Otherwise I feel tired constantly and brain-foggy.
#2 - I desperately need to get more sleep every night. Caffeine is not an adequate substitute for sleep.
#3 - My protein/recovery shake really does work. I could tell a huge difference this week cutting it out - I was much more sore and definitely didn't feel like I was recovering as fast. That could be due to #2 as well, though.

M1 (4:30am - PreWO) - Apple, 11 almonds
M2 (7:30am - PWO) - Breakfast Quinoa, 1 c. strawberries, 3 egg whites, 1 egg
M3 (10:30am) - 4 oz. turkey breast, 1 bell pepper, 2 T. homemade hummus
M4 (1:30pm) - 4 oz. chicken breast, 2 c. steamed veggies (broccoli, yellow squash, onions)
M5 (4:30pm) - Banana, 1 T. almond butter, 4 oz. tuna
M6 (7:30pm) - 4 oz. salmon, 2 c. spinach w/ salad veggies, 1 T. balsamic vinaigrette, peach

Ashley and I did a crazy workout yesterday (Wednesday) called a tabata. The basic principle of tabata is doing a period of intense workout followed by a short period of rest and then right back into the intense workout. Ours yesterday was 50 seconds of exercise followed by 20 seconds of rest. We did deadlifts with 70 lbs, pushups, single leg lunges (one round per leg), upright rows, and woodchops (25 sec. per arm) with a 15 lb. dumbbell. We did 7 rounds of this and took a short, 1-2 minute break after doing 4 rounds. It took roughly 40 minutes and both of us were hurting by the end!!

30 Day Sugar Fast

I've decided to take on a 30 day sugar fast. It was suggested on one of the blogs I read and I've decided to accept the challenge. I don't generally eat a lot of sugar - it's been cut out of my day to day diet nearly 100%. But I do like to have an ice cream treat on the weekends (or if we're looking at last week, the week nights too!) and in general feel too addicted to all forms of sugar right now. So from tomorrow (July 10th) through August 10th, I'm going to be sugar free!

I'm not cutting out fruit (those sugars are good for you!), but I am going to be cutting out honey on my morning oatmeal, sodas (even the diet ones!) and any other "sweet treats" that I usually enjoy. Why? Well, why not? I like to do things just to prove to myself that I can. It's kind of like the marathon (though no where near as intense). It's something my mind likes to tell me I can't do. So I decide to do it just to prove that I can. Putting it out there on the blog helps me be accountable and you can feel free to smack me if you see me eating anything with sugar in it! Anyone else care to take up the challenge?