62 Days (Jennie)

Sooooo... exactly 2 short months from today, I will be (hopefully) recovering at home from a successful battle with the all mighty Tough Mudder. It's a scary thought... 3, 4 or more months still feels like tons of time. Tomorrow means officially less than 2 months, which feels more like right around the corner. So much going on at home with the kiddos about to start school again, soccer season about to begin again, so much going on at work, big user conference around the corner to prepare a presentation for... just wow. One day at a time. Or as one of my favorite consultants once told me: "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time..."  Gross, yet so true. It used to be when things would get crazy at work, the workouts would tend to be the first thing to go. I was too tired, needed to rest, needed downtime... pick appropriate excuse here. I've finally come to the realization that I need this. Working out is obviously great physically, but it's powerful emotionally. It's truly my "me" time: whether it's helping to ease the day's frustrations, helping to center and focus on the day ahead, and helping me feel more comfortable in my own skin. Sure, I'd love that extra hour of sleep. But it's not worth the other 23 hours I spend kicking myself for missing the workout.

Food for the day
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with about 2 cups spinach, 2 T salsa and 1/2 an avocado. Turkey bacon, coffee and a small piece of french bread (BIG breakfast- but big workout after!)
Lunch: granola bar and a Starbucks lime refresher- we had a light late lunch since we had a big late breakfast
Afternoon snack: lime refresher from Starbucks while out walking- yum!
Dinner: We had dinner at an Italian place tonight celebrating my sissy's birthday with the family (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINDY!). Unfortunately, not a heck of a lot of options that were paleo-friendly. I gave in and had the pesto pizza. It was very good, fortunately light on the cheese and hubby ate 3 of the 8 pieces.
Dessert: a few bites of creme brulee and coffee. Darn I didn't need that, but it was good!

Thankfully, Monday really brings a sense of order back to the diet routine!

Total calories in: 2000 (although I think I am over-estimating the pizza at 930 cals)
Calories burned: 2450
Workout: Walk to park with the fam, 1 hour of basketball with hubby

64 Days (Jennie)

Two months and two days to Tough Mudder, it's getting real now! Today went well, got the workout in this morning and a good walk in at lunch too, plus running around with the kiddos grocery shopping tonight.

Food for the day
Breakfast: protein shake with 2 cups spinach, frozen blueberries, vanilla protein powder and unsweetened almond milk
Morning snack: turkey bacon, a nectarine and coffee
Lunch: salad with ground turkey and ranch dressing
Afternoon snack: lime refresher from Starbucks while out walking- yum!
Dinner: We had dinner out tonight, Chipotle Shrimp salad at Rubio's. Super tasty and only 380 calories.
Dessert: honey roasted peanuts- not quite a dessert! I got home and started logging calories for the day and realized I was running a pretty big deficit. I don't like to run too light, it makes getting through the morning workout difficult. Dinner was surprisingly light, I planned for something a bit heavier. Maybe a little yogurt or fruit before bed. :)

Total calories in: 1450
Calories burned: 2300
Workout: P90X Kenpo, 2 mile walk at lunch

65 Days (Jennie)

65 days... just a shade over 2 months to go, yikes! This morning was supposed to be day 3 of P90X, Back and Biceps. We have somehow managed to lose this workout in the 3 years we've owned P90X, I have no clue where it went. Possibly mixed up in a DVD case with one of the kids' movies. My plan was to get up and do something different, either find something on Youtube or another arm/strength workout. But my phone (alarm clock) had other plans and locked up on me again. Grrr... I dropped it several months ago and cracked the screen. I can't find anyone locally to repair it and am not too keen on sending it out for repair, so using it as-is until my contract is up in January. It's generally still fine, but sometimes acts a bit wonky, this was one of those mornings. I woke up to hubby's alarm instead and looked over at my phone, which had dutifully gone off, just made no sound. Frustrating, but I'm not horribly disappointed about a rest day, I've been hurting after all the pullup madness of day 1. I did go for a 2 mile walk at lunch and plan to knock out a little something before bed so I don't feel so guilty. Note to self, start setting backup alarm again!

Food for the day
Breakfast: turkey bacon and coffee
Morning snack: granola bar
Lunch: work had a BBQ for us today, which was awesome! I had tri-tip, salad, cantaloupe and a small piece of cornbread and skipped over the tasty looking pasta salads and ice cream.
Afternoon snack: a small handful of almonds
Dinner: "Brinner" night- breakfast for dinner- dutch baby again

Total calories in: 1800
Calories burned: 2100
Workout: 2 mile walk

66 Days (Jennie)

66 days and counting! This morning was day 2 of P90X, Plyo. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about going back to Tony Horton's plyo workout after finishing a few rounds of Insanity and Asylum. It's definitely tough, but a different pace. I do adore Tony Horton, but sometimes find the slower pace (and resulting 60 minute video) to be mildly frustrating. This morning went well though and I burned a lot of calories, added bonus! I was able to get in a short walk at lunch as well, we have a brand new farmer's market near my office. Great deals on all sorts of wonderful organic local produce. I bough peaches, nectarines, corn and tons of spinach (in case you didn't notice how quickly I go through it). Two big bunches for $3, hooray!

Food for the day
Breakfast: smoothie with spinach, blueberries, almond milk, vanilla protein powder and a banana. I normally don't do the banana and should have kept it that way. It made it way too sweet for me. Lesson learned!
Morning snack: turkey bacon and coffee
Lunch: salad with grilled chicken and ranch dressing
Afternoon snack: granola bar and a small handful of almonds
Dinner: scrambled eggs with spinach and blue cheese. Hubby went to catch the new Batman movie with a friend after work. I met up with him to pick up the kiddos and they went to grab a quick bite before the movie. He grabbed Taco Bell, the kiddos wanted McD's as a special treat. I wasn't wanting any of that, so scrambled up the eggs instead once we got home. I struggle sometimes to cook for myself on the fly, but I could have done much worse.
Dessert: Greek yogurt with peaches (I earned my extra calories today!)

Total calories in: 1935
Calories burned: 2450
Workout: P90X Plyo

67 Days (Jennie)

Just 67 days til the All Mighty Mudder! I started back today with day 1 of P90X. My intent is to slow down on the super intense cardio for a bit and focus on lifting heavier weights to build upper body strength. I also hope to shake these last few pounds by keeping my target heart rate a little lower. I am following Tony Horton's advice and keeping track of number of reps and total pounds, but on a spreadsheet instead of a notebook. Because that's how us nerdy analyst chicks roll!

Food for the day
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs (3) with spinach and a little blue cheese. Yes, it sounds like a weird combo, but it works. At least if you like blue cheese! I also had some unsweetened grapefruit and coffee.
Lunch: Leftover cheese pizza from the one I made on Saturday. It didn't reheat well- I should have just fed it to the dogs.
Afternoon snack: Red grapes- I love those tasty little guys. They really satiate my sweet tooth without the guilt.
Dinner: Zucchini "spaghetti" and chicken meatballs
Dessert: small fruit smoothie with strawberries, banana, carrots and peaches

zucchinighetti?

Hubby and the kiddos have been craving pasta for quite some time, which I've been trying to avoid. It's not that I'm following a primal eating plan 100%, but I have found things that I can cut out fairly easily. I do like pasta, but I'm not really missing it either. Amazing fresh pasta aside, I am typically boiling it from a box that's been up in my cupboard for a month or more, so it's not exactly a super flavorful thing on its own. I boiled whole wheat pasta for hubby and the kiddos and sliced 3 small zucchini very thin length-wise and boiled for a few minutes for myself. This was topped with sauce and chicken meatballs. I do make meatballs from scratch sometimes, these happened to be a find at the grocery store that were sampled out and everyone liked. They were pre-cooked and only needed to be reheated, which I did in the pasta sauce. I love to cook, but really appreciate shortcuts during the busy workweek. It turned out well and honestly, I didn't miss the pasta or the calories!

Total calories in: 1750
Calories burned: 2250
Workout: P90X Chest and Back

91 Days (Jennie)

Aaaaand... back at it! One so-so day is not going to derail me from my mission!

Breakfast
Oatmeal with half a peach, a little coconut sugar, cinnamon and almond milk.

Lunch
Tuna lettuce wraps (1 can of tuna, 1 chopped hard boiled egg, about a T of relish and 1 T mayo- mix and serve in butter lettuce leaves- yum!

Dinner
Carne asada tacos! I did have 1 taco shell until I realized they were all cracked and not worth the effort. The carne asada was pre-seasoned from the store, but awesome and had a great kick! Had that with some veggie refried beans, spinach, corn (roasted fresh- yum!), salsa and avocado.

Dessert
The downside of running around a fair amount today was that my meals were a bit sporadic. After dinner, I ended up still being several hundred calories under my target for the day, so a little dessert is in order to help make up for it. Healthier dessert of course! Chopped up some fresh peach, blueberries and served with a little homemade whipped cream and a few dark chocolate chips. A-ma-zing! ;)


Today's workout was Asylum Game Day, 60 minutes of craziness! Even with dessert, I'm still running a decent calorie deficit for the day, which will help make up for yesterday's indulgences. Calories in for the day 1600, on track to burn about 2400.

Cheers!

94 Days (Jennie)

Oh Wednesday... you haven't been kind to me! A few months ago, my phone took a bad fall and all the king's horsemen and all the king's men couldn't put it back together again. Actually, it still works, but the cracked screen causes it to lock up from time to time and the only thing I can do is pull the battery to reboot it. At 5:00am, my cell phone alarm dutifully goes off and proceeds to lock up. Half-asleep me fumbles for the snooze and after a minute or so I realize it's not just me, that it's locked up again. So I (still half-asleep) continue to fumble to get the case off, then pull the back off the phone and take the battery out to shut off the blaring alarm. I decided to close my eyes for just a few minutes, then get up... and an hour and a half later I did. Oops. Needless to say, the AM workout didn't happen.

Fast forward to lunch, we went out to celebrate a coworker friend's birthday. Going out is always a challenge, but I stuck with salad and skipped the amazing looking bread. Victory! We also went out for dinner (had errands to run as soon as I got home from work, no time to cook dinner), and I did my best to make wiser choices there too. Last but not least, frozen yogurt. Again, not the greatest, but far from the worst too. I stayed away from all the tasty candy and cookie toppings if that counts!

Moral of the story- I'm trying to do my absolute best over the next 100 days. I'm sure there will be days that I can't squeeze in the workout or restaurants that don't offer the healthiest food. But I'm really trying to at least choose the optimal thing that I can for the situation that I'm in.

Breakfast
Small banana muffin (homemade), 4 slices turkey bacon and coffee


Lunch
Salad (spring mix lettuce, carrots, steak, blue cheese, tomatoes and balsamic reduction dressing)

PM Snack
Banana and yogurt

Dinner
Baja Fresh steak and shrimp baja bowl (didn't eat the entire thing though!), along with a few chips

Dessert
Chocolate and almond frozen yogurt

Right now I'm sitting at 1990 calories. Not great, considering I've barely burned above 2000 today. Considering what it could have been though, I'm pleased overall. Time to get a baby workout in before bed and back to it in the morning!

94 Days (Mindy)

Happy Hump Day woot woot!

I hate end of the quarter time, work is crazy... and this week is especially crazy because I was out half the day Monday for a doctor's appointment, today I had an all day meeting and tomorrow I'll be out for a few hours at a dentist appointment *uh groan*... but I am proud of myself because despite working late every night this week I've managed to get in something of a workout!  Enough venting....

Breakfast
- Oatmeal topped with 1tsp brown sugar, a cut up banana and splash of almond milk
- 2 eggs scrambled with a little bit of salsa


AM Snack
- Blueberry greek yogurt


Lunch
- Subway foot long veggie sandwich, no cheese and only mustard


PM Snack
- 1 cup cantaloupe


Dinner
- Yummy yummy salad: chicken, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cucumbers, Parmesan cheese, and blue cheese vinaigrette dressing

So I got home tonight at almost 8PM from work and I knew I wanted to do a quick but effective workout I of course turned to the one and only Zuzana!!  She is all about short powerful workouts using maximum effort and I am gradually going through all of her ZWOW workouts... today was ZWOW #3.

Total Calories Eaten: 1576
Calories Burned (at 9:30PM): 1937 so I should hit 2100 by the end of the day

95 Days (Jennie)

Happy Tuesday! Another busy day at the office, but I was able to sneak in a walk at lunch time today which I've really missed the last few days. Unfortunately we've had a few of these marathon meetings lately that run for 6 or 7 hours a day and make it hard to get a walk in, let alone any actual work.

Here's how today went:
Breakfast
Spinach protein smoothie (spinach, vanilla protein powder, blueberries, unsweetened almond milk)

AM Snack
Banana and 4 slices turkey bacon

Lunch
Salad (romaine, red peppers, turkey, cheddar, corn, avocado, jalapenos, edamame and a little ranch).

PM Snack
Granola bar and a small handful of almonds

Dinner
Fruit (apples, peaches, kiwi, grapes and raspberries) and deconstructed galumpke...I'll explain. ;)


My husband's mother's side of the family is from Poland originally. My mother-in-law cooks galumpke, which is a traditional Polish dish, basically cabbage stuffed with ground beef and rice, in tomato sauce. It's simple but delicious, the kind of food that warms you to your core. My husband loves it, but decided one night to try a healthier (and slightly less time-consuming) version. He coined the "deconstructed galumpke" name, so all credit goes to him on that one!


Deconstructed Galumpke
1 lb ground turkey (I used 93% lean)
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
1 cup dried quinoa
1 head green cabbage, cut into bite sized pieces (1"x1" should be good)
4 cans Campbell's tomato soup
2 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste


Cook the quinoa according to package directions. My brand called for 1 cup dried quinoa to 2 cups water, then simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes. While the quinoa is cooking, blanch the cabbage and brown the turkey, adding the Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Drain the cabbage, then add back to stock pot along with the tomato soup and 2 cans of water. Add turkey, sugar and quinoa to tomato soup and cabbage mix. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes to reduce and serve.


This is for the entire stockpot of soup:

 

Don't worry, you won't eat the entire stockpot of soup!

This makes enough to serve 4 massive portions, but more realistically 6 good-sized adult portions, about 350 calories each. The quinoa is a great replacement for the rice, it has approximately the same number of calories, but more protein and fiber than even brown rice. If you compare quinoa's protein and fiber to white rice, it looks even better. Plus it provides all essential amino acids, especially important for those that do not consume animal proteins. You can substitute reduced sodium tomato soup to cut the salt, this will trim about 3200 mg.


So here it is!

Deconstructed Galumpke... and a little fruit on the side

It's not the prettiest girl at the dance, but comfort food at its best. Hearty, healthy and delicious!

This morning's workout was Asylum Speed and Agility, along with a 2 mile walk at lunch.

Happy eating!

95 Days (Mindy)

95 days and counting... this is week 3 of no alcohol during the week... not that I was an alcoholic or anything but I enjoyed a nice glass... or two... of wine at night most nights to help relax from a stressful day at work.  I do miss it but I am hoping the loss of alcohol calories starts reflecting on the scale!

Breakfast
(hodge podge of different yummy things)
- Plain greek yogurt with a 1/4 of Dark Chocolate & Red Berry Granola (brand is Nature's Path and it is so yummy!!)
- Piece of toast with 1T of peanut butter
- 1/2 cup of cantaloupe

Snack
- Kind Fruit & Nut Bar

Lunch
- 2.5 ounces free range turkey breast wrapped in 1 slice of Havarti cheese
- Smoothie with spinach, mango, banana and Unsweetened almond milk

Snack
- Banana
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 3 oz baby carrots

Dinner 
- 5 oz chicken breast
- 1 cup yellow squash and zucchini

 I found this really delicious chicken seasoning at Whole Foods that I sprinkled on both the chicken and the squash and it was great on both!

My workout was from Bob Harper and it was a quick 20 minute workout but I burned almost 300 calories not too shabby!

Calories Eaten: 1626
Burned So Far (9PM): 2064 so I should hit between 2200-2300 the rest of the night

96 Days (Jennie)

Oh Monday, you always come too soon. Today went fairly well. I had a dentist appointment this morning and was up earlier than normal to get the workout in and get to the appointment by 8. I was a bit worried that my energy level would be pretty bad after a very busy weekend and not a lot of sleep, but I did okay thankfully.

Today's rundown:

Breakfast
Spinach protein smoothie (spinach, vanilla protein powder, blueberries, unsweetened almond milk)

AM Snack
Banana and string cheese

Lunch
Lots o' salad (romaine, mushrooms, red peppers, turkey, cheddar, tomatoes, corn, avocado, jalapenos and a little ranch)

PM Snack
Granola bar

Dinner
Grilled chicken breast, roasted asparagus, corn on the cob, sweet potatoes and grilled peaches. Our little peach tree has been working overtime and the birds were kind enough to leave a few for us, so they hit the grill.

It's grilled fruit!

Dessert
Fresh berries with a little whipped cream. The beauty of making whipped cream is to be able to control the sugar or add a more glycemic-friendly sweetener.

This morning's workout was P90X Kenpo. Total calories in is 1685 and burned should be about 2200 by end of the day. Tomorrow I'm aiming to get a lunchtime walk in to get this calorie burn up!

96 Days (Mindy)

So with the influence of Jackie Warner at my side... at least in paper form, I am probably going to have a somewhat monotonous weekly diet, but hey whatever works.  My goal is 3 meals a day 400-500 calories each then a morning snack and afternoon snack 150-200 calories each.  No starchy carbs after lunch and protein with all 3 meals and 1 of the snacks.  Make sure to drink minimum of 1 gallon of water per day as well.  And during the week NO alcohol... but I refuse to give up my wine on the weekends!

Here is how today went:

Breakfast:

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter smoothie (Oh mama this one was great!!)

- Frozen Banana

- 1 cup of spinach

- 1T peanut butter

- 1 scoop chocolate protein powder 

- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

I also snacked on 1/2 cup 1.5% cottage cheese when I was making my food.

Look at all that yummy spinach!!

Morning Snack

- Apple

- 1/8 cup almonds

Lunch

- Salad from Trader Joes with mixed greens, tomatoes and mozzarella

- 1 leftover oatmeal cookie mmm home made could not resist

Afternoon Snack

- 1/2 cup cottage cheese

- 1/2 cup pineapple

- Strawberry Serenity Kombucha (I rarely buy these because they are so expensive but I was at Whole Foods the other and just could not pass it up)

Dinner

For dinner I had tuna salad stuffed into bell peppers instead of bread

- 1 can of albacore tuna in water (total of 1/2 cup)

- 1 oz of plain 2% greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise

- 1-2T deli brown mustard

- Spoon of relish

- 1T parmesan cheese (the real non powder kind)

- Pinch of dill, pepper, onion powder, parsley

Sliced up 1/2 cucumber on the side

The tuna mixed really well with the bell pepper, it was so delicious!!

For my workout I ran for 30 minutes, then came home and lifted weights a la Jackie Warner.

Total Calories: 1536 

Total Burned (as of 9:10PM): 2564

97 Days (Jennie)

Today was a good realization. Sometimes it's not always about what you do and instead what you don't do. Mindy and I took the kiddos up to visit our Dad and Grandma. We all had a great time, sadly, he lives about 3 hours from here, so I skipped the workout this morning so I wouldn't have to get up at 5am (especially since I didn't go to bed til midnight!). I had a tasty BBQ burger. Far from diet food, but... (stay with me here)... it's what I didn't eat. No chips, no dip, no potato salad, no desserts. Have the burger, but keep the sides healthy, veggies and watermelon. Dinner was a quick stop at a local Tex-Mex place where I indulged a bit with cheese and steak enchiladas, but after 200+ miles of driving and two overly tired fighting kiddos... insert excuse here. :)

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with spinach and 3 slices turkey bacon

AM Snack:
Caramel light frappuccino (okay okay, not my healthiest day!)

Lunch:
Burger on whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomato, light mayo, pickles, mustard and ketchup
Watermelon and veggies with a little ranch
These crazy addictive apple straw things... not terrible, but only had a few too!

Dinner:
 Aforementioned cheese and steak enchiladas. I did leave the rice and beans mostly untouched and only had a few chips, hopefully not a total loss!

Workout- No! :(  Breaks aren't a bad thing though, and a recovery day was probably in order. Visiting Grandpa always gets me up and moving around a bit, even with all the driving, I should still hit about 2200 calories burned by end of day.

Tomorrow- back to the craziness!

99 Days (Jennie)

I'm cheating a bit and writing a bit early before dinner, but want to make sure I got this in tonight. Today was a lot of fun, we had our year-end lunch for the Controller's group at work (year-end in June since we just finished audit). This year's event was bocci ball, which was so much fun. But as much fun as all that is, work events are a huge challenge for eating healthy. Today was no exception- tasty food everywhere I looked. Pizzas, tons of appetizers, desserts. So what's a girl to do to keep on the clean diet path? Fill plate with salad!

Mmmm... salady

Not the best picture, but it was tasty. Lots of spinach, lots of romaine, some mandarins in one salad, Parmesan, pine nuts and some eggs from the other salads (3 mixes on one plate). I did go back for a few prawns later; salad is great, but doesn't fill me up for long without some protein in the mix. I'm proud to say that even with the dessert table right next to the salad table (even had to go to there to get a fork), I didn't touch any of it. No cheesecake, no tiramisu, no lemon bars... they were all calling to me but I held true to my mission. *pats self on back*

Here's the count for the day:

Breakfast:
Vanilla protein shake with almond milk, spinach, and blueberries
Turkey bacon and coffee

Lunch:
Lots of salad, 3 boiled tiger prawns, a few veggies from the tray

PM Snack:
Granola bar

Dinner:
TBD- but it's looking like we're grilling burgers. My calorie count looks good for the day so far, so I'll splurge a bit here. And it's Friday, so what the heck? ;)

Today's workout was Asylum Vertical Plyo and some yardwork (hey, pulling weeds is hard work!)

Off to get dinner with the family. Cheers to a great weekend!

100 Days (Jennie)

Tomorrow, we're officially into double-digit days left before Tough Mudder, yikes!!

So far so good! I'm a bit of a broken record when it comes to breakfast and snacks which is going to make this a little repetitive... breakfast and snack choices always seem limited for on-the-go. I do start checking out more recipes, especially things that can be made at night and reheated or just grabbed in the morning on the way out the door.

Breakfast:
Vanilla protein shake with almond milk, spinach, and blueberries
Turkey bacon and coffee

AM Snack:
Greek yogurt
Small handful of almonds

Lunch:
Healthy taco salad (sans the "taco")  :)  Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, corn, avocado, jalapenos, cheddar, ground turkey and a little guacamole ranch dressing

PM Snack:
Granola Bar
Small banana

Dinner:
Tuna rolls (tuna, mayo with olive oil, relish, wrapped in butter lettuce)
Fruit salad (bananas, apples, strawberries, blueberries)


And because I was having a dessert craving... some plain Greek yogurt with a little honey and red grapes. It was just enough to quiet the sweet tooth and keep me away from the cookies I made hubby last night! Calories burned for the day was 1988, on target to burn 2400 per my trusty Fitbit.

I'm a big fan of Greek yogurt, Chobani in particular. One 6 oz serving of nonfat plain yogurt has 140 calories and 23 grams of protein, twice the amount in normal yogurt. It's filling and very versatile- add fruit, honey, or sub in baked goods. It also provides 30% of your RDA for calcium. Best of all, it's an easy and healthy snack to take on the go.

I am tasty and delicious!

This morning's workout was Asylum Strength. My goal was to make it through the entire workout with 15# dumbbells, thrilled to say I did it! Even knocked out a few of the rotational jumps holding a 45# kettle bell... wowwowwow... that was a challenge. My inside forearms, of all strange places, are even sore. I was planning to do the P90X Ab Ripper X workout tonight, but haven't been able to separate my butt from the couch the past hour for some crazy reason. That's okay, I'll make up for it in the morning with a hot date with Shaun T. and the rest of the Asylum crew.

Happy almost Friday!

101 Days (Jennie)

Last night's post really ignited something in me. While I was driving to work this morning and realizing that there are just 101 days til Mudder, I thought "hey, why not make these days count?" Really count too, as in eat clean and train dirty kind of count. 100 days from now I will not only be ready for Mudder, but will see a drastic change in my body as well (pics to come!).

Breakfast:
Vanilla protein shake with almond milk, spinach, and blueberries
Turkey bacon and coffee (oh sweet nectar...)

AM Snack:
Greek yogurt
Small banana

Lunch:
Chicken and orzo soup
Mixed greens salad (spring mix, edamame, carrots, celery, bell pepper, corn), raspberry vinegar

PM Snack:
Granola Bar
Small handful of almonds (15)

Dinner (my pork chop plan went awry, I must have frozen them too late, yuck!!!):
Scrambled eggs with spinach and salsa
Turkey sausage patty
Fruit salad (bananas, apples, strawberries, blueberries)

All in all, not a bad day, although a shade under 2000 calories, which I'd like to lower a bit to try to knock off these last few stubborn pounds. Calorie burn according to my Fitbit should hit about 2400 by the end of the day.

Today's workout: Asylum Gameday... 60 minutes of joy! ;)

So that's it... 1 day down and 100 more to go!

Counting Calories (Mindy)

I have a love hate relationship with counting calories, I love it because when I'm actually good about it, it keeps me on track and I steadily lose weight; however, for some reason I just hate doing it... probably because then I have to actually be accountable for what I'm eating and I do not get to eat as much peanut butter *boo*

My favorite calorie counter, and I've tried a million, is My Fitness Pal which is free *yah* and it's both an iPhone and Android application.

I have been very good about it this week and have actually dropped a few pounds!!

Here is what the app looks like:

Here is my diary from yesterday showing my lunch:

It does not keep track of all vitamins that you should be getting and I personally don't agree with some of the targeted levels of things like fiber (should be higher), sodium (should be lower), sugars (I think it's ok to have a little more), but it's still a great tool.

And there are a handful of tools that allow you to track your progress over time which are great.

In the past I have been great for a few weeks, but then I just get tired of doing it and stop... so this time to reach my goal I am determined to stay with it!!

To Eat Carbs Or To Not Eat Carbs: Should That Be The Question?

I thought this was a great article I wanted to post

xo Mindy

To Eat Carbs Or To Not Eat Carbs: Should That Be The Question?

Ayurvedic Secrets (Jennie)

I am a huge Dr. Oz fan, he's my guilty pleasure whenever I have a day off from work and the kiddos are in school. I recently caught his show about Ayurvedic secrets of weight loss, featuring Sunita Mohan, a Homeopathic doctor. I have mixed feelings on homeopathic treatments at times, but overall believe that there is a lot it can potentially offer as well as serve to complement conventional western medicine. The doctor mentioned a recipe for hot lemonade which is supposed to assist with detox and digestion that I wanted to try. I love all the ingredients independently, so why not combine the three?

Daily Ayurvedic Detox
8 oz hot water
1/2 fresh squeezed lemon
1" fresh ginger root, sliced
1 T raw honey

The smell of it is rather interesting... but it's good! I started this about a week ago, I don't know yet if it's made any kind of significant difference in my life, but it's easy enough to do that I'll stick with it for now.

Cheers! 

The Beginning (Jennie)

At the urging of a certain sister of mine (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent), I am overdue and posting my intro finally!

Like most moms, I struggled to lose baby weight after having my daughters. My girls are close in age, and I didn’t have much time to get the weight off with my oldest before I was pregnant with my youngest. While on maternity leave with my youngest, I decided that it would also be a great idea to go back to school and pursue my Masters degree.  So began a 2 year journey with a 3 month old, a 21 month old, a full-time job and school. Needless to say, exercise was really on the back-burner during those two years. Once I finished school and life calmed down a bit, I decided it was time to take control of the weight and get it off. I had some success, but then would inevitably gain a little back by the holidays. Last year I officially kicked things into high-gear, tracked everything that I ate and made it a point of incorporating exercise as well. I finally dropped those last pesky 20 lbs.

My goal is to be less concerned with the number on the scale and more concerned with my overall health and fitness level. Once upon a time, I actually went to school to become a dietitian (how I ended up in Finance I still wonder…). I love nutrition and finding healthy things to make at home, especially things the kiddos will eat. At the end of the day, I know what’s good for me and what isn’t, yet it’s still tough to stay on track. But I work best when I have an end-goal to strive for and that’s where Tough Mudder comes in.  And I’m dragging Mindy along for the fun of it too!

That’s a little of me in a nutshell. Cheers to good health!